Stanko Grafenauer (13 May 1922 – 7 August 2010) was a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

mining engineer Mining engineering is the extraction of minerals from the ground. It is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, metallurgy, geotechnical engineering and surveying. A mining engineer m ...

mineralogist Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

and academic. He made significant contributions to the field of mineralogy and introduced new measurement techniques in his research. Grafenauer was also recognised for his work as a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and his involvement in academia. His main fields of research were:

ultramafic rock Ultramafic rocks (also referred to as ultrabasic rocks, although the terms are not wholly equivalent) are igneous and meta-igneous rocks with a very low silica content (less than 45%), generally >18% MgO, high FeO, low potassium, and are usua ...

s with

chromite Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of Iron, FeChromium, Cr2Oxygen, O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The ...

deposits,

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

igneous rock Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial ...

s of Slovenia, and studying

mineral deposit Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

s in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

thought to be related to Triassic igneous activity. He was also involved in the study of Moon samples.

Early life and education

Stanko Grafenauer was born in Ljubljana, then part of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. In 1941, he enrolled in his studies at the Faculty of Engineering in Ljubljana but was interrupted by the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During the war, he was interned in

Gonars Gonars () is a town and (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Udine in Friuli, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northeastern Italy. It is located near Palmanova. History World War II On 23 February 1942, the Fascist regime established ...

and

Monigo The Monigo concentration camp was a prison camp opened during World War II aimed at civilian prisoners (mostly Slovenes and Croats). It was located in Monigo, a suburb of the town of Treviso. The camp was active between 1942 and 1943. The total n ...

. After the war, he resumed his education and graduated in 1948. After completing his doctoral studies, Grafenauer joined the Mežica mine in 1955, where he remained until 1961. During this time, he held the position of chief mining engineer and implemented innovative working methods. His work extended beyond day-to-day operations, as he also conducted systematic research into the formation and genesis of

ore deposit Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

s. In order to enhance his expertise, Grafenauer pursued further education in the field. From 1957 to 1958, he expanded his knowledge of

X-ray diffraction X-ray diffraction is a generic term for phenomena associated with changes in the direction of X-ray beams due to interactions with the electrons around atoms. It occurs due to elastic scattering, when there is no change in the energy of the waves. ...

and ore microscopy through specialised training in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. This additional training allowed him to deepen his understanding of these techniques and apply them effectively to his research.

Career

After completing his degree, Grafenauer worked as a

in the mines of

Mežica Mežica (; German: ''Mießdorf'') is a town in northern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Mežica. It lies on the Meža River in the traditional Slovenian province of Carinthia) near the Austrian border. The town developed close to ...

and Raduša (1949–1954). He also worked at the Geological Institute of Macedonia in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

. His professional endeavors focused on researching various minerals and implementing new measurement techniques in the field. In 1959, Grafenauer achieved

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

. Subsequently, in 1961, he was appointed as an associate professor of ore deposit geology at the Faculty of Mining, Metallurgy, and Chemical Technology at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

. In 1965, he became a full professor at its successor, the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology. In April 1973, he was elected as an associate member of the

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy. Cultural significance Establis ...

. In April 1981, he became a full member of the academy. Throughout his career, he received several accolades, including the Boris Kidrič Foundation Award in 1972, which honoured his outstanding achievements. He was the first in

to use the

electron microprobe An electron microprobe (EMP), also known as an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) or electron micro probe analyzer (EMPA), is an analytical tool used to non-destructively determine the chemical composition of small volumes of solid materials. I ...

and he found there a number of rare

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

s, such as

maucherite Maucherite is a grey to reddish silver white nickel arsenide mineral. It crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system. It occurs in hydrothermal veins alongside other nickel arsenide and sulfide minerals. It is metallic and opaque with a hardnes ...

and

mackinawite Mackinawite is an iron nickel sulfide mineral with the chemical formula (where x = 0 to 0.11). The mineral crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system and has been described as a distorted, close packed, cubic array of S atoms with some of t ...

Personal life

Beyond his professional accomplishments, Stanko Grafenauer displayed diverse interests. As a retiree, he authored a book featuring

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish (food), dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main r ...

s for dishes prepared within his family. He had a daughter named

Irena Grafenauer Irena Grafenauer (born 19 June 1957 in Ljubljana, Slovenia) is a Slovenian flute player and soloist, a pupil of Boris Čampa, Karlheinz Zöller and Aurèle Nicolet. Irena Grafenauer was born to father Stanko Grafenauer, a geologist, and to mot ...

, who gained renown as a

flutist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

. His father was linguist and historian, best known as historian of literature,

Ivan Grafenauer Ivan Grafenauer (7 March 1880 – 29 December 1964) was a Slovenian literary historian and ethnologist of Carinthian Slovene origin. He was born as Johann Grafenauer, as an illegitimate child of Michael Grafenauer and Elisabeth Flaschberger, ...

, his sister was designer, architect and choreographer Marija Grafenauer-Vogelnik, and his brother was the historian

Bogo Grafenauer Bogo Grafenauer (16 March 1916 – 12 May 1995) was a Slovenian historian, who mostly wrote about medieval history in the Slovene Lands. Together with Milko Kos, Fran Zwitter, and Vasilij Melik, he was one of the founders of the so-called ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grafenauer, Stanko 1922 births 2010 deaths Slovenian mining engineers Slovenian mineralogists Slovenian geologists Slovenian academics Academic staff of the University of Ljubljana