Xuite, in the garnet group, is named for Hongwu and Huifang Xu
DOE/Los Alamos National Laboratory
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., January 25, 2021 A vanishingly tiny mineral is being named for two scientists who have revolutionized the analysis of mineral samples. Xuite (pronounced zoo-ite ), the newest member of the nano-mineral pantheon, is named in honor of Los Alamos National Laboratory mineralogist Hongwu Xu and the University of Wisconsin s Huifang Xu.
The newly named mineral, xuite, is shown here magnified in images A and B, and the lower image is a sample from Gillette, Wyoming. The reddish area contains the xuite, hematite, and silica-rich glass. (Image courtesy of Seungyeol Lee and Xiaofeng Guo.)
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Newly identified tiny mineral named for Los Alamos and U. Wisconsin scientists
LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Jan. 25, 2020 A vanishingly tiny mineral is being named for two scientists who have revolutionized the analysis of mineral samples. Xuite (pronounced “zoo-ite”), the newest member of the nano-mineral pantheon, is named in honor of Los Alamos National Laboratory mineralogist Hongwu Xu and the University of Wisconsin’s Huifang Xu.
“It is a wonderful honor to see a new mineral named for Hongwu Xu and his colleague Huifang Xu. The rare mineral, which typically forms in cooling lavas and scorias, is a member of the garnet group of minerals,” said Terry Wallace, former director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, who is also a noted geologist and the only other Los Alamos scientist for whom a mineral, terrywallaceite, is named. “The honor of the naming is in recognition of Hongwu’s outstanding contributions to mineralogy and the science of an evolving planet Earth.�