SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A newly discovered mineral has been named after a University of Utah scientist who runs a lab that analyzes inorganic compounds.
It’s called nashite, a rare bluish-green mineral found in tiny quantities in abandoned uranium mines in Utah and Colorado.
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A scientific group named it after geology and geophysics professor Barbara Nash.
Nash didn’t find the mineral and says it has no known human application, even for jewelry, because it’s just too small.
It was discovered in 2010 by retired University of Utah medical technologist Joe Marty, who has 2,000 of the world’s 5,000 known minerals in his collection.
Marty and other researchers described the mineral for the scientific journal Canadian Mineralogist in February.
The International Mineralogical Association agreed to name the mineral after Nash.
