Canada honours leading Manchester earth scientist

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The Royal Society of Canada has bestowed a rare honour on a world-leading earth scientist from The University of Manchester, by electing him as a ‘Foreign Fellow’.

Professor David Vaughan is Research Professor of Mineralogy at The University of Manchester, and was the Founding Director of the University’s Williamson Research Centre for Molecular Environmental Science. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the Natural History Museum.

In addition, he has uniquely served as President of the mineralogical societies of the UK and the United States, and the equivalent European organisation.

He is the leading international authority on metal sulphide minerals, key materials for the Canadian economy and natural environment. He has pioneered applications of spectroscopic, imaging and computational techniques to study the structure and reactivity of such minerals, and played a major role in establishing the field of molecular environmental science which integrates research on the mineralogical, geochemical and biological systems of the Earth’s surface at the molecular scale.

The sulphide mineral 'vaughanite' was named for David, in recognition of his contributions to mineralogy.

Founded in 1882, the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) – equivalent to the UK’s Royal Society and British Academy - recognises scholarly, research and artistic excellence, advises governments and organisations, and promotes a culture of knowledge and innovation in Canada and with other national academies around the world.

Annually, the Society elects up to four Foreign Fellows who, at the time of their election, are neither residents nor citizens of Canada and who, by their exceptionally distinguished intellectual accomplishments, have helped promote the object of the Society in ways that have clear relevance for Canada.