Presentation of the 2012 Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America to Harry W. Green II

Abstract

Mr. President, Colleagues, and Guests: It is with great pleasure that I introduce Harry W. Green II, as recipient of the Mineralogical Society of America’s highest honor, the Roebling Medal. The Roebling Medal is awarded “for outstanding original research in mineralogy...defined broadly”—a description that completely fits Harry Green’s distinguished scientific career. Harry’s research activities have focused on the rheology of geological materials in mantle conditions, and how stress and deformation interact with metamorphism and phase transformations. Now, Harry calls this direction “Mineralogy in Action,” that is, indeed, a bridge between “Phase Transformations and Earth’s Dynamics.” Throughout his career of more than 40 years, Harry has made seminal advances in mineralogy-based disciplines using the physical properties of minerals, mineral reactions, and their connections with the microstructures of minerals and rocks. All of his numerous publications are done in provocative and creative ways, and Harry remains today on the scene as one of the most influential, world-leading scientists in high-pressure rheology and mineralogy. He has done so through innovative high-pressure experiments and exhaustive interrogation of natural minerals and their experimental counterparts down to the smallest scales by electron microscopy. Before putting in context Harry’s main achievements, I would like to highlight “Where Harry was first at the beginning of his career?” His first major impacts in the 1960s to the 1980s included research on understanding extreme preferred orientation of quartz caused by annealing; on deformation microstructures in mantle xenoliths connected to generation of …