Presentation of the 2017 Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America to Edward Stolper

The Roebling Medal recognizes outstanding research in mineral sciences, and this yearu0027s medalist—Edward Stolper—conducts experiments that are arguably the most original and innovative of this generation. His interpretations and insights often upend current thinking and, in the process, turn misconceptions and nonsense into solid gold.Edu0027s early research, conducted when he was a student, focused on extraterrestrial materials. As an undergraduate, he analyzed the chemistry of lunar green glasses returned by Apollo astronauts. For his Masteru0027s thesis at Edinburg, he determined that eucrites—basalts from asteroid Vesta—cluster near the olivine-pyroxene-plagioclase peritectic, suggesting an origin by partial melting rather than fractional crystallization. As a Harvard doctoral student, his insight prompted the first recognition that shergottite meteorites are martian basalts, and his experiments defined the nature of the Mars mantle source region. These seminal papers, now nearly four decades old, are still referenced as state-of-the-art insights into planetary magmatism.