The Sid and Betty Williams Laboratory for Mineralogical Research - Established a
Last Updated: 25th Jun 2008By Tony Nikischer
The Sid and Betty Williams Laboratory for Mineralogical Research
Established at the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy
The Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, the not-for-profit foundation dedicated to mineral research, preservation and education, has announced the formation of The Sid & Betty Williams Laboratory for Mineralogical Research. The facility has been named for well-known mineralogist Dr. Sidney A. Williams and his wife, Betty Jo. Dr. Williams described over fifty (50) new mineral species during his career at Phelps Dodge and while a private consultant thereafter. He passed away in December, 2006. His extensive private laboratory from his consulting business, Globo de Plomo, has been donated to the Hudson Institute by his wife, Betty Jo, and it has been named both in memory of Dr. Williams and in gratitude for Mrs. Williams’ unprecedented support of the Institute and its objectives.
Founder and Chairman of the Institute, Tony Nikischer, stated, “The donation of Dr. Williams’ laboratory equipment will enable the Institute to achieve one of its long-term objectives well ahead of schedule: the establishment of a working laboratory for the mineral collecting community that will be able to offer below-market analytical identification services to this underserved group.” Nikischer, who also operated Excalibur Mineral Company’s analytical services facility until he elected to close it last year due to extensive backlogs and rising maintenance costs, indicated that an active search for a resident research scientist was underway, and that the Williams Laboratory was expected to come on line in 2009. In addition to the personnel search underway, sufficient funding to refurbish and upgrade the donated equipment to sound operating status is also being sought.
Astute mineral collectors have often been responsible for the initial discovery and, therefore, the ultimate description of new mineral species. With the number of affordable and accessible laboratories with mineralogically knowledgeable staff declining significantly, the collector community has had fewer and fewer avenues of reliable identification available. The Institute believes that the Sid and Betty Williams Laboratory for Mineralogical Research can dramatically change that situation. At no cost to the Institute, the Excalibur firm has agreed to notify all of its former analytical services clients of the new laboratory alternative once it is operational, and an immediate demand for identification services is expected. It is anticipated that the low cost services offered by the Institute will enable it to continue funding basic mineralogical research as well as a wide variety of outreach and education programs within the scope of its charter.
The donated equipment will provide SEM, EDX, XRF and XRD capability, in addition to a full optical mineralogy laboratory. Ancillary equipment, including Cahn and Berman balances, a Weissenberg X-ray goniometer, extensive Leitz accessories such as automatic grain counters and several stand-alone analytical computer systems will add even more capability over time. Combined with earlier equipment donations from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the British Antarctic Survey and others, the Institute expects to achieve a self-supporting operation by the end of the first year of laboratory operation. Further, classes in polarized light microscopy and other fundamental analytical techniques are under consideration, and the collector community will have an opportunity to develop some of the basic technical skills used in both modern and classical descriptive mineralogy. Hands-on courses are largely unavailable at reasonable cost, and the Institute plans to further leverage the Williams donation to develop such programs in a concentrated and focused manner at moderately low cost.
In addition to the extensive equipment donation, the Williams family also provided a comprehensive library of mineralogical publications, professional papers and reference works used by Dr. Williams during his long and productive career. Over one hundred linear feet of books alone were included. These will be added to the Institute’s growing reference library. Complete sets of USGS topographic maps of many western states that filled tweo entire file cabinets were also included, as were large topographic and geologic maps of many foreign localities in which Dr. Williams did extensive exploration and field work. Over time, these important references will be cataloged and made available for study and use by the mineralogical community as well.
Included in the packed fifty-three (53) foot, special suspension tractor trailer that brought the equipment and library were scores of assorted flats of minerals that Dr. Williams was actively researching before his health declined. Because of Dr. Williams’ acknowledged expertise in the scientific community, many specimens had been sent to him by such mineralogical notables as Fabien Cesbron (cesbronite), Richard Gaines (gainesite), Marjorie Duggan (dugganite), Dick Bideaux (bideauxite) and others, and Sid had spent many hours identifying samples for them. Some two hundred (200) specimens that had been X-rayed were subsequently designated as unknowns that could potentially be new species, and the Institute intends to continue the identification process on these samples once a resident research mineralogist has been brought on board. It will be a fitting tribute to Dr. Williams that some of his unknowns will subsequently be identified and described in the resurrection of his own laboratory.
The five-figure costs to crate and safely move this large and delicate donation nearly 3000 miles across country were paid for exclusively through donations to the Institute, supported by organizations such as the Franklin-Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society, Excalibur Mineral Corporation and a handful of individual donors. This large expense has strained the Institute’s capability to fund the refurbishment and upgrading of the equipment, and financial donations are needed to bring the laboratory up to operating condition by 2009. Support from the collector, dealer and scientific communities is being sought for this purpose. Those organizations and individuals wishing to see the Sid and Betty Williams Laboratory for Mineralogical Research open its doors are urged to contribute to this effort. (Editor’s Note: Mineral News will provide no-cost ad space for this purpose in each issue.)
The Sid and Betty Williams Laboratory is being housed in a portion of what is now know as “Building 15” in a warehouse complex used by nearly twenty (20) diverse service and manufacturing companies in Peekskill, New York. The printing firm that handles production of Mineral News, as well as the warehouse and offices of Excalibur Mineral Corp., are also tenants in the same complex. The mailing address of the Institute, PO Box 2012, Peekskill, NY 10566-2012, will remain unchanged. For those of you who would like to help make the laboratory an accessible asset for mineralogy, dig deeply!
Established at the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy
The Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, the not-for-profit foundation dedicated to mineral research, preservation and education, has announced the formation of The Sid & Betty Williams Laboratory for Mineralogical Research. The facility has been named for well-known mineralogist Dr. Sidney A. Williams and his wife, Betty Jo. Dr. Williams described over fifty (50) new mineral species during his career at Phelps Dodge and while a private consultant thereafter. He passed away in December, 2006. His extensive private laboratory from his consulting business, Globo de Plomo, has been donated to the Hudson Institute by his wife, Betty Jo, and it has been named both in memory of Dr. Williams and in gratitude for Mrs. Williams’ unprecedented support of the Institute and its objectives.
Founder and Chairman of the Institute, Tony Nikischer, stated, “The donation of Dr. Williams’ laboratory equipment will enable the Institute to achieve one of its long-term objectives well ahead of schedule: the establishment of a working laboratory for the mineral collecting community that will be able to offer below-market analytical identification services to this underserved group.” Nikischer, who also operated Excalibur Mineral Company’s analytical services facility until he elected to close it last year due to extensive backlogs and rising maintenance costs, indicated that an active search for a resident research scientist was underway, and that the Williams Laboratory was expected to come on line in 2009. In addition to the personnel search underway, sufficient funding to refurbish and upgrade the donated equipment to sound operating status is also being sought.
Astute mineral collectors have often been responsible for the initial discovery and, therefore, the ultimate description of new mineral species. With the number of affordable and accessible laboratories with mineralogically knowledgeable staff declining significantly, the collector community has had fewer and fewer avenues of reliable identification available. The Institute believes that the Sid and Betty Williams Laboratory for Mineralogical Research can dramatically change that situation. At no cost to the Institute, the Excalibur firm has agreed to notify all of its former analytical services clients of the new laboratory alternative once it is operational, and an immediate demand for identification services is expected. It is anticipated that the low cost services offered by the Institute will enable it to continue funding basic mineralogical research as well as a wide variety of outreach and education programs within the scope of its charter.
The donated equipment will provide SEM, EDX, XRF and XRD capability, in addition to a full optical mineralogy laboratory. Ancillary equipment, including Cahn and Berman balances, a Weissenberg X-ray goniometer, extensive Leitz accessories such as automatic grain counters and several stand-alone analytical computer systems will add even more capability over time. Combined with earlier equipment donations from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the British Antarctic Survey and others, the Institute expects to achieve a self-supporting operation by the end of the first year of laboratory operation. Further, classes in polarized light microscopy and other fundamental analytical techniques are under consideration, and the collector community will have an opportunity to develop some of the basic technical skills used in both modern and classical descriptive mineralogy. Hands-on courses are largely unavailable at reasonable cost, and the Institute plans to further leverage the Williams donation to develop such programs in a concentrated and focused manner at moderately low cost.
In addition to the extensive equipment donation, the Williams family also provided a comprehensive library of mineralogical publications, professional papers and reference works used by Dr. Williams during his long and productive career. Over one hundred linear feet of books alone were included. These will be added to the Institute’s growing reference library. Complete sets of USGS topographic maps of many western states that filled tweo entire file cabinets were also included, as were large topographic and geologic maps of many foreign localities in which Dr. Williams did extensive exploration and field work. Over time, these important references will be cataloged and made available for study and use by the mineralogical community as well.
Included in the packed fifty-three (53) foot, special suspension tractor trailer that brought the equipment and library were scores of assorted flats of minerals that Dr. Williams was actively researching before his health declined. Because of Dr. Williams’ acknowledged expertise in the scientific community, many specimens had been sent to him by such mineralogical notables as Fabien Cesbron (cesbronite), Richard Gaines (gainesite), Marjorie Duggan (dugganite), Dick Bideaux (bideauxite) and others, and Sid had spent many hours identifying samples for them. Some two hundred (200) specimens that had been X-rayed were subsequently designated as unknowns that could potentially be new species, and the Institute intends to continue the identification process on these samples once a resident research mineralogist has been brought on board. It will be a fitting tribute to Dr. Williams that some of his unknowns will subsequently be identified and described in the resurrection of his own laboratory.
The five-figure costs to crate and safely move this large and delicate donation nearly 3000 miles across country were paid for exclusively through donations to the Institute, supported by organizations such as the Franklin-Ogdensburg Mineralogical Society, Excalibur Mineral Corporation and a handful of individual donors. This large expense has strained the Institute’s capability to fund the refurbishment and upgrading of the equipment, and financial donations are needed to bring the laboratory up to operating condition by 2009. Support from the collector, dealer and scientific communities is being sought for this purpose. Those organizations and individuals wishing to see the Sid and Betty Williams Laboratory for Mineralogical Research open its doors are urged to contribute to this effort. (Editor’s Note: Mineral News will provide no-cost ad space for this purpose in each issue.)
The Sid and Betty Williams Laboratory is being housed in a portion of what is now know as “Building 15” in a warehouse complex used by nearly twenty (20) diverse service and manufacturing companies in Peekskill, New York. The printing firm that handles production of Mineral News, as well as the warehouse and offices of Excalibur Mineral Corp., are also tenants in the same complex. The mailing address of the Institute, PO Box 2012, Peekskill, NY 10566-2012, will remain unchanged. For those of you who would like to help make the laboratory an accessible asset for mineralogy, dig deeply!
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