<p>I am reading this paper, and the authors have an interesting affiliation:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/cDKAu.png" alt="geoalchemy"></p>

<p>Center for Geoalchemy, MIT? A quick Google Scholar search shows that it was a thing in the late 1970s to 1980s. Seems like they were researching geochemical petrology. Any ideas for the source/reason for this name?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-26T19:36:02.180Z
Great name; it reminds me of the [Center for Rock Abuse](http://inside.mines.edu/CRA-Homepage), a prolific rock physics lab, at Colorado School of Mines. I suspect it's just some geochemist's shining wit, and maybe a wink at [geochemistry's early history](http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2013/03/newtons-alchemy-and-early-geochemistry.html). But I'd love to know the full story if anyone knows it.
Matt Hall
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-26T19:57:38.373Z
And let's not forget [Wasserburg's Lunatic Asylum](http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3545/1/Crafoord.pdf)!
Gimelist
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-01-09T11:29:47.847Z
I agree with @kwinkunks: a bit of sly humour, probably intended as a nod to the sizable gaps in our current understanding -- cf. Hess' [essay in geopoetry](http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/hist_oceanogr/hess-history-of-ocean-basins.pdf) and jocular references to palaeomagnetists as [palaeomagicians](http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/VUW1980-81Anta-fig-VUW1980-81Anta022b.html). (As a pure speculation, I wouldn't be surprised if the Center for Geoalchemy's disappearance in the 1980s was due to a higher-up stumbling across the name and deciding it was "unprofessional".)
Pont
<terminology>
What is Geoalchemy?
Gimelist
# What is Geoalchemy?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-24)

I am reading this paper, and the authors have an interesting affiliation:

![geoalchemy](https://i.sstatic.net/cDKAu.png)

Center for Geoalchemy, MIT? A quick Google Scholar search shows that it was a thing in the late 1970s to 1980s. Seems like they were researching geochemical petrology. Any ideas for the source/reason for this name?

**Tags:** terminology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Great name; it reminds me of the [Center for Rock Abuse](http://inside.mines.edu/CRA-Homepage), a prolific rock physics lab, at Colorado School of Mines. I suspect it's just some geochemist's shining wit, and maybe a wink at [geochemistry's early history](http://historyofgeology.fieldofscience.com/2013/03/newtons-alchemy-and-early-geochemistry.html). But I'd love to know the full story if anyone knows it.  
> **username_0**: And let's not forget [Wasserburg's Lunatic Asylum](http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3545/1/Crafoord.pdf)!  
> **username_2**: I agree with @kwinkunks: a bit of sly humour, probably intended as a nod to the sizable gaps in our current understanding -- cf. Hess' [essay in geopoetry](http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/hist_oceanogr/hess-history-of-ocean-basins.pdf) and jocular references to palaeomagnetists as [palaeomagicians](http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/VUW1980-81Anta-fig-VUW1980-81Anta022b.html). (As a pure speculation, I wouldn't be surprised if the Center for Geoalchemy's disappearance in the 1980s was due to a higher-up stumbling across the name and deciding it was "unprofessional".)  

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## 0 answers

