Professor of Mineral Physics

UCL - Vice Provost for Research.

d.price@ucl.ac.uk

Room 01.19, 1st Floor, Kathleen Lonsdale Building

Tel: 020 7679 7083

Research Interests

David Price (Schlumberger Medallist of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain 1999, Member of the Academia Europaea 2000, Murchison Medallist of the Geological Society of London 2002) is a mineral physicist, who 20 years ago was one of the first to established the now major field of computational mineral physics, and in this time has published over 160 research papers. He has been one of the pioneers in the application of ab initio molecular dynamics methods to deep Earth systems. Price's work has not just been computational, however, rather he has always combined experiment, theory and modelling to tackle major deep Earth Sciences problems. Specifically he has used x-ray, neutron and electron diffraction techniques to determine the structure and physical properties of materials, usually at high T or P, and theoretical crystal chemical and crystallographic analysis aimed at establishing the factors that determine the structural stability of inorganic phases. His research led to the discovery of the first natural occurrence of beta-Mg2SiO4, which he named wadsleyite, and which is now believed to be the major constituent of the upper part of the transition zone of the Earth's mantle.

Courses Taught

GEOL3004/C14 Geoscience Laboratory Techniques (Contributor)
GEOL4017/C443 Mineralogy

Homepage:

www.es.ucl.ac.uk/people/d-price/