Julian Royce Goldsmith was a mineralogist and geochemist at the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 (Moore, 1971). Goldsmith, along with colleague Fritz Laves

Fritz Laves

-References:...

, first defined the crystallographic polymorphism of alkali feldspar

Alkali feldspar

The alkali feldspar group are those feldspar minerals rich in the alkali elements like potassium. The alkali feldspars include: anorthoclase, microcline, orthoclase and sanidine....

 (Newton, 1989). Goldsmith also experimented on the temperature dependence of the solid solution between calcite

Calcite

Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate . The other polymorphs are the minerals aragonite and vaterite. Aragonite will change to calcite at 380-470°C, and vaterite is even less stable.-Properties:...

 and dolomite

Dolomite

Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....

 (Newton, 1989). Goldsmith’s research also led him to experiment with the determination of the stability of intermediate structural states of albite

Albite

Albite is a plagioclase feldspar mineral. It is the sodium endmember of the plagioclase solid solution series. As such it represents a plagioclase with less than 10% anorthite content. The pure albite endmember has the formula NaAlSi3O8. It is a tectosilicate. Its color is usually pure white, hence...

 (Newton, 1989). For his outstanding contributions to the study of mineralogy and geochemistry, Goldsmith was awarded the prestigious Roebling Medal

Roebling Medal

The Roebling Medal is the highest award of the Mineralogical Society of America for scientific eminence as represented primarily by scientific publication of outstanding original research in mineralogy. The award is named for Colonel Washington A. Roebling who was an engineer, bridge builder,...

 by the Mineralogical Society of America

Mineralogical Society of America

The Mineralogical Society of America is a scientific membership organization. MSA was founded in 1919 for the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, and petrology, and promotion of their uses in other sciences, industry, and the arts...

 in 1988 (Newton, 1989). The mineral julgoldite

Julgoldite

Julgoldite is a member of the pumpellyite mineral series, a series of minerals characterized by the chemical bonding of silica tetrahedra with alkali and transition metal cations...

was named for him.