Albert Streckeisen (8 November 1901 – 29 September 1998) was a Swiss

petrographer Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. The class ...

and petrologist, the son of

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...

forensic scientist Adolf Streckeisen.

Biography

He studied geology, mineralogy and petrology in Basel, Zürich and Berne. He submitted his doctoral thesis on the geology and petrology of the Flüela group in 1927. In the same year, aged 26, he was called as Professor in Mineralogy and Petrology to the Politehnica University of Bucharest,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. As a member of the Romanian Geological Service, he was active in the geological mapping of the

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretche ...

. In the 1930s, he returned to Switzerland because he would have been forced to relinquish his Swiss nationality in order to remain professor at Bucharest. He taught science at Swiss high schools until his retirement in Berne. He became an honorary professorial associate at the University of Berne in 1942, where he was nominated extraordinary professor. In 1958, Streckeisen was asked to collaborate in revising

Paul Niggli Paul Niggli (26 June 1888 – 13 January 1953) was a Swiss crystallographer, mineralogist, and petrologist who was a leader in the field of X-ray crystallography. Education and career Niggli was born in Zofingen and studied at the Swiss Federa ...

's ''Tabellen zur Petrographie und zum Gesteinbestimmen'' "Tables for Petrography and Rock Determination". He noted significant problems with the current classification systems for

igneous rocks Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...

. He wrote a review article and invited petrologists to send in their comments. This led to the formation of the Subcommission of the Systematics of Igneous Rocks, under the IUGS Commission on Petrology in 1970. The

QAPF diagram A QAPF diagram is a double ternary diagram which is used to classify igneous rocks based on mineralogic composition. The acronym QAPF stands for " Quartz, Alkali feldspar, Plagioclase, Feldspathoid (Foid)". These are the mineral groups us ...

for the classification of igneous rocks is also known as "Streckeisen diagram" in his honour. He began his work on

aged over 60, pursuing it for more than 35 years until his death in October 1998. He received the Abraham-Gottlob-Werner medal of the Deutsche Mineralogische Gesellschaft in 1984.

Bibliography

*1962 ''Minerale und Gesteine''

References

*R. W. Le Maitre, ''Igneous Rocks: A Classification and Glossary of Terms'' (Front Matter), Cambridge University Press {{DEFAULTSORT:Streckeisen, Albert 1901 births 1998 deaths Swiss academics Petrologists Politehnica University of Bucharest faculty