G. Thomson

G. Thomson (1760 – November 1806) was an English geologist. He died in Palermo at the early age of 46 years[1].

Name

His name is indicated only with G. because the full name is unknown[2]. In several secondary sources he is called William Thomson or William Thompson[3], and sometimes is even confused with Lord Kelvin (1824-1907). However in his own work published on Atti dell'Accademia Delle Scienze di Siena[4] and on the article of Paneth[5] he is indicated as G. Thomson. On some other sources is also called W. G. Thomson[6].

Discovery of Widmanstätten pattern

Main article: Widmanstätten pattern

Thomson at the time was living in Naples. One day he decided to treat with nitric acid a Krasnojarsk meteorite with the purpose of cleaning it from rust. Shortly after the contact with acid he noticed on the surface of the metal a strange never seen before figures: it was the later-called Widmanstätten pattern.

In 1804 he published his discovery in French on the Bibliothèque Britannique[1][3][5]. In 1808 his work was published post-mortem also in Italian language (translated from the original English manuscript) on Atti dell'Accademia Delle Scienze di Siena[7].

The discovery is commonly credited to Count Alois von Beckh Widmanstätten probably due the early death of Thomson and the lack of an English publication. The discovery of Widmanstätten was independent, but it dates 1808 and it lacks publication. So the full credit of the discovery should be assigned to G. Thomson due chronological priority. For this reason, several authors suggested to call the pattern also Thomson structure[1][3][8].

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Gian Battista Vai, W. Glen E. Caldwell. The origins of geology in Italy. Geological Society of America, 2006, ISBN 0813724112. - p.184
  2. ^ F. Manheim, F. A. Paneth. The discovery and earliest reproductions of the Widmanstatten figures. Geoscience Abstracts, American Geological Institute (1959). p.17
  3. ^ a b c John G. Burke. Cosmic Debris: Meteorites in History. University of California Press, 1986. ISBN 0520056515
  4. ^ Gerald Joseph Home McCall, A. J. Bowden, Richard John Howarth, The history of meteoritics and key meteorite collections: fireballs, falls and finds. Geological Society, 2006. ISBN 1862391947, ISBN 9781862391949. - p.56
  5. ^ a b F. A. Paneth. The discovery and earliest reproductions of the Widmanstatten figures. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1960, 18, pp.176-182
  6. ^ The Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, Iron and Steel Institute, 1964. p.968
  7. ^ G.Thomson. Saggio di G.Thomson sul ferro Malleabile trovato da Pallas in Siberia. Atti dell'Accademia Delle Scienze di Siena, 1808, IX, p.37
  8. ^ O. Richard Norton. The Cambridge encyclopedia of meteorites. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0521621437.