Category
page 1Minerals described in 1802
smithsonite
Smithsonite, also known as zinc spar, is the mineral form of zinc carbonate (ZnCO3). Historically, smithsonite was identified with hemimorphite before it was realized that they were two different minerals. The two minerals are very similar in appearance and the term calamine has been used for both, leading to some confusion. The distinct mineral smithsonite was named in 1832 by François Sulpice Beudant in honor of English scientist James Smithson (c. 1765–1829), who first identified the mineral in 1802.
atacamite
Atacamite is a copper halide mineral: a copper(II) chloride hydroxide with formula Cu2Cl(OH)3. It was first described from deposits in the Atacama Desert of Chile in 1802 by Dmitri Alekseyevich Golitsyn. The Atacama Desert is also the namesake of the mineral.