Victor Goldschmidt

Victor Goldschmidt was a very important scientist. He helped start two big fields of study. These are geochemistry and crystal chemistry. Geochemistry is the study of how chemicals work in our Earth. Crystal chemistry looks at how tiny parts build crystals.

He was born in Zürich, Switzerland, on 27 January 1888. His father was a chemist. His mother was the daughter of a lumber merchant. The family moved to many places like Amsterdam and Heidelberg. They finally moved to Norway in 1901. This is where Victor did much of his great work.

Victor studied how heat changes rocks. He looked at a valley called the Oslo graben. In this area, hot magma moved into old rocks. This heat caused a thing called contact metamorphism. This is when heat changes the rocks around it. It creates a type of rock called hornfels.

Victor found that certain minerals always stay together. For example, one mineral might pair with another but never a third. He used these facts to make a special rule. This rule helps scientists understand how many parts a mineral has.

In the 1920s, science changed with X-rays. Scientists found that X-rays could show the shape of crystals. Victor used these X-rays to study many common minerals. He and his team created rules for grouping elements together. He wrote these rules in a series called Geochemical Laws of the Distribution of Elements.

His work helped everyone understand how the Earth is built. He was very well known in the science world. He even won the Wollaston Medal for his hard work.

Victor lived through a very dark time during World War II. In 1940, German forces invaded Norway. Because Victor was Jewish, he was arrested in 1942. He was taken to the Berg concentration camp. He became very ill and went to a hospital. He was almost sent away on a ship to Auschwitz. However, his friends helped him. They told the police that his science skills were needed. This allowed him to flee to Sweden and then to England.

In England, Victor worked in many places. He worked at the Macaulay Institute and at Rothamsted. People at Rothamsted even gave him the nickname "Goldie."

He helped study things like coal ash and heavy water. He eventually went back to Norway in 1946. Sadly, he died in 1947 at the age of 59. Today, we remember him in many ways. There is a mineral called goldschmidtite named for him. There is also a mountain ridge named Goldschmidtfjella.