John Sinkankas John Sinkankas ( 1915 – 2002 ) was an honored Navy officer and aviator , noted gemologist , gem carver and gem faceter , author of many books and articles on minerals and gemstones , and a bookseller and bibliographer of rare books . Early life . John Sinkankas was born in Paterson , New Jersey . He was the son of Joseph Sinkankas and Domicelė Klimas , who immigrated from Lithuania just before the turn of the century . At the age of seven he visited the New Street Quarries in Paterson , where he saw and collected crystals of apophyllite , prehnite , quartz , calcite and other mineral specimens . When older , he would go on field trips with Dr . James Morton , curator of the Paterson Museum , and visited the magnetite mine , abandoned blast - furnance s , quarries and mines . In high school he developed a love of flying , and frequently visited the Teterboro Airport and spoke with early aviators and to see the Fokker aircraft , Gates Flying Circus and others . While still in high school , he made a glider with a seat in the front , but his father did not allow him to fly it more than once . After completing high school , he obtained his BS degree from the New Jersey State Teacher ' s College , later to become the William Paterson College of New Jersey . In 1940 He married Marjorie Jane McMichael of Paterson , New Jersey , and had four children : John William , George Martin , Sharon Jane Tooley , and Marjorie Ellen Coates . US Navy Aviator . Sinkankas graduated from the Naval Air Station in Pensacola , Florida , in 1937 , as US Navy Aviator # 5390 . Before and during World War II , Sinkankas was employed in flying patrol seaplane s engaged in convoy work and anti - submarine warfare in numerous places . Fortunately , he was never shot at . During the course of the war he had an opportunity to fly Colonel Bernt Balchen around Greenland where they visited various colonies along the western coast , including Ivigtut . There Sinkankas collected several flats of specimens from the famous cryolite deposit and elsewhere found rhodolite garnet . He retired from the Navy as a Captain in 1961 . Gemology . In 1951 , the journal " Rocks and Minerals " revised its column " The Amateur Lapidary " and asked Sinkankas to be the author . It was this assignment that launched his career in writing about gems and minerals . He became a frequent contributor to the column and also wrote other articles for the magazine - nearly 35 articles appear under his name . To date Sinkakas has published well over 130 papers in numerous hobby and professional journals , including " Lapidary Journal " , " Gems and Minerals " , " Rock and Gem " , " Mineral Digest " , " Mineralogist " , " Gems and Gemology " , " Journal of Gemology " , " American Mineralogist " , " Mineralogical Record " , " Industrial Diamond Review " , " Lapis " , " Desert Magazine " , " Bookman ' s Weekly " , " Antiquarian Bookman " , and others . " Some of his examples of gem cutting and faceting are shown in the Smithsonian Institution . They include a 7 , 000 carat faceted egg of rock crystal ; a cut golden beryl of over 2 , 054 carats . He also has large faceted gems on display in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and the American Museum of Natural History in New York . Sinkakas thought of himself as a micromount er . He was listed as such in the " International Directory of Micromounters " , published by the Baltimore Mineralogical Society , as long ago as the third edition ( 1966 ) . Sinkankasite . Sinkankasite , mineral formula : H2MnAl ( PO4 ) 2 ( OH ) • 6 ( H2O ) , was named after Sinkakas . It is triclinic ; as colorless , bladed to prismatic crystals up to 4 mm in length , often as divergent , radial aggregates and as pseudomorph s after triphlyte crystals ; occurs in the Barker pegmatite ( formerly Ferguson pegmatite , east of Keystone , South Dakota , and in the Palermo pegmatite , North Groton , New Hampshire . Bookseller and bibliographer . To provide a source of materials for earth scientist , Sinkakas and his wife established Peri Lithon Books company . The company name , Peri Lithon is Greek for " about stones . " It is in honor of the book , " Peri Lithon " , by the Greek naturalist Theophrastus , a disciple of Aristotle , who wrote the first known book about minerals about 450BC . Sinkankas was also a bibliographer on the history of gems and minerals . He developed the John and Marjorie Sinkankas Gemological Library which was sold to the Gemological Institute of America . Involved in the negotiations were 350 book archive boxes holding some 750 linear feet of shelf space . Included were some 8 , 000 books and 6 , 000 pamphlets , scientific reprints , offprints and the like . Altogether , it added over 20 , 000 new items to the Richard T . Liddicoat Library and Gemological Information Center . Honors . Sinkankas was a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America ; honorary Fellow of the Gemmological Association All - Japan ; member of the Mineralogical Association of Canada ; honorary member of the Rochester Academy of Sciences ; honorary member of the San Diego Mineral and Gem Society ; and the Cosmos Club of Washington , DC . In 1982 , he was awarded the " Distinguished Associate Award " from the Gemological Institute of America . In 1982 , the Board of Trustees of William Paterson College presented to John Sinkankas the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters . In 1989 , he was presented the Carnegie Mineralogical Award .