Dr E.R. (Ralph) Segnit

This mineral was named in honour of Dr Ralph Segnit for his contributions to Australian mineralogy.

Ralph Segnit  first joined CSIRO Industrial Chemistry in Melbourne in 1945 after graduating with a M.Sc. from Adelaide University. Subsequently he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, and after time at the Universities of Adelaide and California and at Princeton, he re-joined CSIRO Building Research in 1960, before moving to Mineral Chemistry in 1972.

He was an expert on the properties of refractory materials, ceramics, synthetic oxide systems and phosphate mineralogy, naming five new phosphate minerals.  Ralph established an international reputation in the field of gemmology, in particular in the structure of precious opal.

Ralph retired from CSIRO in 1983 but continued to work as an Honorary Research Associate (Fellow). He was also an adjunct professor at Deakin University in Burwood.

He was a member of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA), the Mineralogical Society of Victoria and the Council of the Australian Ceramic Society, secretary of IMA’s Commission on Gem Materials and Honorary Life Member of the Geological Society of Australia.

Ralph was awarded a D.Sc. in 1987 from University of Adelaide on the basis of his more than 160 research papers.