Don Completed his Doctorate at the Colorado school of mines, and spent many years employed with the USGS. Whilst I am not sure of the exact time I came in contact with Don, we shared a mutual enthusiasm for gemology, geology and specifically precious opal.
LAurie Aldridge began his scientific career working on the structure of zeolites using X-Ray diffraction (XRD) at the university of Otago in New Zealand.In 1990 Laurie moved to Australia to work at ANSTO specializing in cement chemistry and the structure of minerals and clays. More recently Laurie has joined with my self (Anthony Smallwood) and Paul Thomas (UTS) to study precious opal structure.
Boris Chauviré is an international opal researcher operating from his home country in France. Boris has spent much time as a field gemmologist in Ethiopia, documenting the occurrence, and geology of this more recent precious opal occurrence Boris’s research is an invaluable contribution to opal science.
Scientist Neville Curtis, primarily researching the silica polymorphs Opal-AG, Opal-AN and Opal-CT
Paul Thomas is a senior lecturer in the school of mathematical and physical sciences at the University of Technology in Sydney (UTS). Paul has a special interest in the characterisation of silica in the form of Precious Opal. Paul has presented lectures regarding the structure and morphology of opal at a number of the Australian opal symposiums.
Bruce is a physical chemist by training with a long history in measurements of natural radioactivity and computer-assisted data processing. He turned down a job with NZ DSIR in 1973 to work on problem of silica in geothermal waters but in 1978, was part of a team looking at the thermoluminescence of natural opal and Gilson opal as a means of distinguishing the two. he conclusion (to borrow from Winston Churchill) was that “Opal is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”.