Paul Niggli

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Paul Niggli (June 26, 1888 – January 13, 1953) was a Swiss crystallographer who was a leader in the field of X-ray crystallography.

Niggli was born in Zofingen and studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the University of Zurich, where he obtained a doctorate. In 1920 he became the lead scientist at the Institut für Mineralogie und Petrographie, and brought a systematic approach to the study of crystal morphologies using X-rays, originating the system of 230 space groups. He retired from the Institute in 1949. He was also professor of mineralogy at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule and at the University of Zurich. The great aim of his life was to integrate the whole field of Earth sciences.

In 1948, Niggli was awarded the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America.

The Paul Niggli Foundation awards medals to outstanding Swiss mineral scientists below the age of 35 with a strong perspective for an academic career.