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| Best of Photographers |
Wendell E.WILSON
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Wendell E.WILSON (r.) receives the
2001 Carnegie Mineralogical Award
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| Click On Picture To Go Back. |
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Wendell E. Wilson was born in Minnesota in 1946, and began collecting minerals in 1956. He earned his M.S. in Mineralogy (1972) from Arizona State University, where he specialized in meteorite mineralogy at the Center for Meteorite Studies, and also field-collected extensively in Arizona's many abandoned mines and famous mineral localities. He subsequently obtained his PhD in Mineralogy (1976) from the University of Minnesota, specializing in isotope geochemistry, lunar petrology, and museum science.
Dr. Wilson has been associated with the Mineralogical Record magazine (founded 1970) since 1971 (first article); was appointed Associate Editor in 1973; and has recently completed his 27th year as full-time Editor (1976-2003); and his 20th year as Publisher and corporation CEO. Over the years Dr. Wilson has supervised the production of over 30 special-topic or book-length publications of the Mineralogical Record, including museum catalogs for the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, a book on the history of mineralogical literature (also co-author), the Glossary of Mineral Species, Glossary of Obsolete Mineral Names, the International Mineralogical Association's World Directory of Mineral Collections, and other important works.
He founded the Antiquarian Reprint Series as a method of preserving and distributing very rare, early illustrated mineral books. Eleven editions have been published so far, including Fabien Gautier d'Agoty's beautifully illustrated Histoire Naturelle Règne Mineral (1781), of which no single complete copy survives -- but one was temporarily assembled for reprinting from parts held by various libraries.
He is also the founder of the Mineralogical Record Library, one of the most important collections of early mineralogical literature in the United States, and is considered an authority on antiquarian mineralogical literature, having written numerous articles in that field.
He has also written or co-authored over 80 major articles and 13 books in mineralogy, including The History of Mineral Collecting 1530-1799, plus over 240 magazine column installments. His various published articles have focused on the mineralogy of such important localities as St. John's Island, Egypt; the Rowley, 79, Hilltop, Red Cloud, North Geronimo, Glove and Ray mines, Arizona; the Pulsifer quarry, Maine; the Tsumeb mine, Namibia; the Kalahari Manganese Field, South Africa; Los Lamentos, Mexico; the Silver Islet mine, Ontario; Batopilas, Mexico; the Anjanabonoina pegmatite, Madagascar; Potosí, Bolivia; the Sapucaia rose quartz mine, Brazil; the Dal'negorsk district, Russia; the Hiddenite district, North Carolina; and the Alto Ligonha pegmatite district, Mozambique. He is also the author of 18 articles and books on mining history (favorite book: "A Collector's Guide to Antique Miners' Candlesticks," the definitive work on a complex subject).
Dr. Wilson has long been considered among the world's leading mineral photographers, with over 6,500 published photos to date. According to Carnegie Museum Curator Marc Wilson, he helped "set the standard" for modern publishing-quality mineral photography." He has also served as photo editor for Encyclopedia of Minerals (1987 and the forthcoming new edition) and Mineralogy of Arizona (1995), besides contributing over 3,400 photos to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History's Photo-Atlas of Minerals (2000).
He is also an accomplished mining-and-mineral artist, with over 1,000 published artworks in a variety of mediums. His mineral specimen paintings have been cherished by top collectors for years, and his fantasy underground collecting scenes (issued as a series of numbered prints) are widely collected.
Among honors received: the new mineral species wendwilsonite was named in his honor in 1987 "...in recognition of his contributions to mineralogy"; he was the recipient of the Carnegie Mineralogical Award for 2001; has been elected Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America (1989) and the Geological Society of America (1995).
Dr. Wilson continues to edit the Mineralogical Record and to write about, paint, research, photograph and collect minerals in sunny Tucson, Arizona with his wife Carolyn and son Eric, under the vigilant protection of a longhaired dachshund named Natasha.
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| Last update 01.30.2003 |
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