The Georg Agricola Medal was awarded to Professor Stanislav Konstantinovich Filatov (Saint Petersburg State University) in recognition of his fundamental contributions to the field of Applied Mineralogy.
Over a period of approximately forty years, Professor Filatov made major contributions to the occurrence, systematics, and interpretation of the phenomenon of negative thermal expansion. His research focused particularly on borates and borosilicates, materials of considerable practical importance because of their low coefficients of thermal expansion and the correspondingly low thermal stresses they exhibit.
By consistently explaining the seemingly anomalous thermal expansion behavior of individual materials on the basis of their crystal structures, Professor Filatov significantly advanced the rational design and development of functional materials.
