By accident, Alan Rubin, a researcher at UCLA, and Byeon-Gak Choi, a researcher from Seoul National University discovered the smallest mineral in existence.
Then they named it Wassonite after Rubin’s colleague, Professor John Wasson.
“You can’t name it after yourself, but you have to name it after someone worthy. Wasson has been in the business for such a while,” Rubin said. “He was one of the leading lights of the meteorite research.”
Wasson came to UCLA in 1964 after obtaining his doctorate in nuclear chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since coming to UCLA, Wasson has conducted research in meteorites and has been a leading figure in his field.
“They warned me that they would like to name it after me,” Wasson said.
The mineral being named after him was confirmed in April by the International Mineralogical Association, an international group that approves and standardizes the names of minerals.
Rubin and Choi discovered the mineral while studying a slice of Yamato 691.
“There are no known minerals that have titanium sulfide. So we knew we had something new right away,” Rubin said.
While the two researchers were able to identify the components of the mineral, they were unable to analyze it properly because UCLA lacked the right equipment to do so.
Rubin and Choi sent the slice of the meteorite to Keiko Nakamura-Messenger, a NASA space scientist who was able to properly analyze it using a scanning transmission electron microscope. She confirmed that the mineral had a unique crystal structure and was not just an amorphous mix of elements.
Analyzing the mineral was difficult, Nakamura-Messenger said, as the crystal sample was microscopic and the titanium sulfide was arranged in a structure that was difficult to analyze.
There have only been 100 minerals discovered from meteorites since 1960, which is little compared to the 4,500 known minerals. Only about one or two minerals are discovered from meteorites each year.
UCLA does not have many other faculty members who have minerals named after them, said Craig Manning, the chair of the earth and space sciences department.
“Someone of his stature and contributions deserves having something named after him,” Manning said. “It makes sense.”
Wasson’s research in the past has focused on chondritic meteorites, specifically enstatite chondrite and their origin and composition. His current research focuses on meteorite impacts and the creation of melted rock. Wasson is exploring if a meteor shower over Southeast Asia could have occurred 70-80,000 years ago and covered the area with molten rock.
Yamato 691, the meteorite that Wassonite comes from, has a unique history. The 69 attached to the name signifies the year the meteorite was found, 1969, and the 1 indicates that it is the first meteorite found that year.
This meteorite was actually the first discovered in Antarctica. Because of the unique properties of the Antarctic ice, meteorites that land on the continent migrate toward the coast. Since the year Yamato 691 was first collected by a Japanese team of glaciologists, both Japan and the United States have sent teams to Antarctica to collect meteorites.
A graduate student in the earth and space science department, Ellen Harju works with Wasson daily for research.
Originally, Harju was in the graduate chemistry department, but after taking a geochemistry class taught by Wasson, she switched departments and finds that researching meteorites with her advisor both interesting and challenging.
“I think it’s really good because he’s had a long career and it’s exciting that he is honored like this,” Harju said.
As for Nakamura-Messenger, she finally had the chance to meet Wasson over a meal recently.
“Even though his name is so big, he was frank and very energetic about his research projects,” she said.