It is with great shock and sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Ralf Milke, the founder and long-standing administrator of the mailing list. He passed away after a short but serious illness.
Ralf was an enthusiastic mineralogist who pursued research with great passion and was especially dedicated to teaching. His scientific expertise began with studies on reaction kinetics and innovative experiments on the formation of reaction rims, but soon expanded far beyond these topics to include publications on the genesis of alkaline rocks, mantle metasomatism, opal formation, and weathering. Many colleagues—particularly in Berlin, where he spent the final stage of his career at Freie Universität Berlin—will remember his studies on the authenticity of Berlin Wall souvenirs, as well as his work in archaeometry and on historical pounce sand.
His academic career began in Tübingen and took him to the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, the University of Basel, the Technical University of Berlin, and finally Freie Universität Berlin.
With Ralf, we have lost a deeply valued colleague, a kind and warm-hearted person, a dedicated teacher, and a passionate mineralogist.
Gerhard Franz
