Karin Aurivillius
Karin Aurivillius (1920–1982) was a Swedish chemist and crystallographer at the University of Lund, Sweden. She determined the crystal structures of many mercury compounds. During the 1960s, she helped develop crystallography in Sweden while working closely with her prominent husband and fellow chemist, Bengt Aurivillius (1918–1994), who was a professor of inorganic chemistry at Lund University. To reveal the structural chemistry of inorganic mercury (II) oxide or sulphide compounds, she studied crystal structures using X-rays and neutron diffraction methods. Some of her research was conducted at the Institute of Atomic Energy Research at the Atomic Energy Research  Establishment (AERE) located in Didcot, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. Honors. The extremely rare mineral "aurivilliusite" was named in honor of Karin Aurivillius, for "her significant contributions to the crystal chemistry of mercury-bearing inorganic compounds." The mineral is dark grey-black with a dark red-brown streak and has been found at a small prospect pit near the abandoned Clear Creek mercury mine, New Idria district, San Benito County, California.