Geotrivia

Some tidbits of information with very little redeeming social or educational value
in no particular order whatsoever.

Gems and Common minerals

Most gems are simply special varieties of common minerals. The gem varieties usually conyain small amonts of certain elements that give them the special coloring that the ordinary variety does not have. Some examples (gem first, ordinary mineral second)

Alexandrite - chrysoberyl
Agate - quartz
Amethyst- quartz
Aquamarine - beryl
Citrine - quartz
Emerald - beryl
Opal - amorphous silica
Peridot - olivine
Ruby - corundum
Sapphire - corundum
Tiger's eye - quartz

Some public figures who have (or had) degrees in the geosciences

Bruce Babbit - Secretary of the interior in the Clinton administration
Herbert Hoover - President of the United States
Colin Powell - previous head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Roy Orbison - rock singer
Harrison Schmidt - astronaut; senator

Clay Minerals and the Nobel Prizes

Clay minerals are sheet silicates and have the ability to absorb water and/or organic molecules between the silicate sheet structures. In the late 19th century, Alfred Nobel discovered that certain clay minerals can absorb the high-explosive nitroglycerine. The resulting substance, dynamite, is more conveneiently handled than the highly unstable nitroglycerine, which can be detonated just by dropping it. Nobel's invention was highly popular with miners, engineers and others who needed to use explosives - and particularly the armament manufacturers who were looking for new and improved ways to blow up humanity. As this latter pursuit is very popular, Nobel made a huge amount of money.
Later in life, the Nobel was struck with remorse for the misery that his invention had inflicted on the world. Having no family to leave his fortune to, Nobel - who never married - gave over a large part of his wealth to establish the Nobel Prizes. These prizes were to celebrate the more noble (no pun intended) pursuits of humanity such as Peace, Physics, Chemistry, Physiology and Medecine. Later the Academy of Nobel's native Sweden added an Economics category to the prizes (although, in my opinion, economists have probably caused as much misery to humanity as dynamite - but I digress).
It seems strange that Nobel never offered a prize in Mineralogy or Geology, the science most concerned with what had brought him financial success.