Vittorio Tazzoli
Segnalato dal Dott. Giancarlo Parodi.
Dal sito http://sciter.unipv.eu/site/home/persone/scheda720002973.html
Vittorio Tazzoli was born in Rome in 1938 and graduate in Chemistry at University of Pavia in 1963. His academical positions were the following: 1963-1964: Grant at the Institute of General Chemistry (Univ. of Pavia) 1965-1967: Research Assistant at the Institute of Mineralogy (Univ. of Pavia) 1967-1983: Assistant Professor at the Institute of Mineralogy (Univ. of Pavia) 1983-1990: Associate Professor of Applied Mineralogy at the Institute of Mineralogy (Univ. of Pavia) 1990-1993: Full Professor of Mineralogy at the Institute of Mineralogy (Univ. of Messina) Since 1993: Full Professor of Mineralogy at the Department of Earth Sciences (Univ. of Pavia) His teaching tasks were: “Mineralogy” for the Degrees in Natural Sciences, in Geological Sciences and in Chemistry; “Mineralogical analysis”, “Applied Mineralogy” and “Crystal-chemistry” for the Degree in Geological Sciences; “Introduction to geomaterials” for the Scuola di Specializzazione per l’Insegnamento Secondario (S.I.L.S.I.S.) The general field of interest of V.T. is the crystal structure analysis of natural and synthetic materials by X-rays diffraction. V.T.'s activity was initially devoted mainly to the resolution of the crystal structure of new minerals (mainly silicates) and of synthetic compounds of crystallographic interest. More recently, his main focus has been the study of the structural variations which occur in rock-forming minerals (mainly pyroxenes) as a function of chemical composition and degree of order. He has studied both thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of order-disorder reactions under controlled conditions of T and PO2. In particular he investigated: a) the convergent ordering process in omphacites, applying the Landau theory to the results of X-ray diffraction and using IR spectroscopy to analyse local heterogeneities; b) the non convergent ordering in orthopyroxene using the Mueller-Ganguly approach: this allowed him to obtain information about the cooling rate of host rocks and also to constrain the thermal history of meteorite samples; c) the phase transitions induced by temperature and by pressure in rock-forming minerals. He was coordinator of the Pavia group in the national biennial projects "Relations between structure and properties in minerals: analyses and applications", "Transformations, reactions, ordering in minerals", “Structure evolution and phase transitions in minerals versus temperature, pressure and composition” and “Phase transitions and order-disorder processes in minerals”, funded by Italian MURST in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2004 respectively. Moreover, from 1997 to 2001 he was member of the Pavia team in the European TMR Network "Mineral Transformations" (EU Contract n. ERB-FMRX-CT97-0108, coordinator: E.H.K. Salje) and from 2001 to 2003 member of the Pavia team in the FIRB project “Mineral physics and technological applications of columbite-tantalite-tapiolite system” (coordinator: M.C. Domeneghetti). From 1984 to 1996 V.T. has been member of the Advisory Committee for Earth Sciences of the Italian University Council (CUN). In Pavia University V.T. has been Director of the Department of Earth Sciences from 2000 to 2006 and member i) of the Senatus Academicus from 2005 to 2010, ii) of the Committee for Phd Programs, iii) of the Scientific Committee (as Vice-president) of the Centro Grandi Strumenti and iv) of the Research Committee of the University. V.T. retired on November 1st 2010. V.T. is Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America and in 2012 he received the special recognition of having a new mineral (from the Euganei Hills, Padova, Italy, with a pyroclore-related structure) named after him (tazzoliite).
Dal sito http://www.euganeamente.it/geometrie-e-colori-della-natura-i-minerali-dei-colli-euganei/
TAZZOLITE
È un minerale rarissimo, segnalato unicamente in un sito euganeo. È stato scoperto da Bruno Fassina, appassionato cultore di mineralogia e raffinato fotografo specialista in minerali, socio del GMPE (Gruppo Mineralogico Paleontologico Euganeo, www.gmpe.it). Lo studio specialistico della nuova specie è stato effettuato da una equipe di mineralogisti delle Università di Padova, Torino e Firenze. Il nuovo minerale è stato convalidato dall’IMA (International Mineralogical Association) nel 2011. La Tazzolite è un minerale molto particolare e complesso dal punto di vista cristallochimico, essendo intermedio tra la categoria degli ossidi e quella dei silicati. Nella sua composizione sono presenti numerosi atomi metallici tra cui niobio, vanadio, tantalio e i gruppi atomici ossidrile e silicato. La tazzolite e un minerale di genesi metamorfica, originato dal contatto termico tra rocce calcaree e rocce magmatiche intrusive (gabbri e sieniti). Località: Monte delle Basse (Galzignano Terme). Origine del nome: in onore di Vittorio Tazzoli, professore di mineralogia e cristallografia dell’Università di Pavia.
(Foto Bruno Fassina, collezione Museo di Mineralogia dell’Università di Padova)
