Douglas Saxon Coombs

Douglas Saxon Coombs
Born (1924-11-23) 23 November 1924
Dunedin, New Zealand
Residence New Zealand
Institutions University of Otago
Alma mater University of Cambridge
Thesis Incipient metamorphism of the tuffs and greywackes of the Taringatura Survey District, Southland, New Zealand; Studies on the determination of low-temperature alkali feldspars (1952)
Notable awards Hector Medal (1969)
Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (2002)

Douglas Saxon Coombs CNZM (born 23 November 1924) is a New Zealand mineralogist and petrologist.

Born in Dunedin in 1924[1] and educated at King's High School,[2] Coombs attended the University of Otago, graduating with an MSc with first-class honours in 1948.[3] He then studied at the University of Cambridge, where he was awarded a PhD in 1952.

First appointed an assistant lecturer in geology at Otago in 1947, Coombs became a professor in 1956. He retired in 1989 and was granted the title of professor emeritus.[4]

Coombs is noted for his studies of the rocks of the southern South Island of New Zealand. The mineral species coombsite, K(Mn2+, Fe2+, Mg)13(Si, Al)18O42(OH)14, is named for him.[5]

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1962,[6] and in 1969 he won the society's Hector Medal,[7] at that time New Zealand's highest science prize. He received the Mineralogical Society of America Award in 1963.[8] In the 2002 New Year Honours, Coombs was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to mineralogy.[9]

A right-hand batsman and leg-break bowler, Coombs played cricket for Otago in the 1942–43 season.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Doug Coombs". CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "Scholarship results". New Zealand Herald. 23 January 1943. p. 4. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Co–Cu". Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "History of the Department of Geology". University of Otago. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  5. ↑ Handbook of Mineralogy (PDF). Mineral Data Publishing. 2001.
  6. ↑ "The Academy: A–C". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Hector Medal". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  8. ↑ Switzer, George (March–April 1963). "Proceedings of the 43rd annual meeting of the Mineralogical Society of America at Houston, Texas" (PDF). American Mineralogist 48: 465. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "New Year honours list 2002". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2001. Retrieved 4 October 2014.

External links


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