Felix Karl Ludwig Machatschki

Karl Ludwig Felix Machatschki (22 September 1895 – 17 February 1970) was an Austrian mineralogist.

He was born in Arnfels (near Leibnitz) in Styria, Austria. He studied at the University of Graz, obtaining his habilitation in 1925; in 1927 he joined the group of Victor Goldschmidt in Oslo for one year. In 1930 he was appointed as a professor at the University of Tübingen. He changed university twice, first in 1941 to the University of Munich and finally in 1944 to the University of Vienna.^[1]

In 1928 he published Zur Frage der Struktur und Konstitution der Feldspäte, a paper in which he develops the concept of the atomic structure of silicates and formulates the construction principle of feldspars.^[2] In 1946 he published Grundlagen der allgemeinen Mineralogie und Kristallchemie ("Fundamentals of general mineralogy and crystal chemistry").

In 1961, Machatschki was awarded the Austrian Medal for Science and Art.^[3] The "Felix-Machatschki-Preis" is an award given by the Österreichische Mineralogische Gesellschaft in recognition of outstanding international scientific work in the field of mineralogy.^[4] The mineral machatschkiite commemorates his name.^[5]

Published works

• Grundlagen der allgemeinen Mineralogie und Kristallchemie, 1946 – Fundamentals of general mineralogy and crystal chemistry.
• Vorräte und Verteilung der mineralischen Rohstoffe, 1948 – Inventories and the distribution of mineral resources.
• Spezielle Mineralogie auf geochemischer Grundlage, 1953 – Special mineralogy on a geochemical basis.

He was also the author of 140 individual articles in scientific journals.^[1]