Kurt Nassau Bibliography
Selected works from chemist and mineralogist, Kurt Nassau
The GIA Library presents this draft of a Kurt Nassau Bibliography. Dr. Kurt Nassau was born in Austria in 1927. He was able to escape to England as a kinder child before the Nazi occupation of his home country. He was educated in England (Cheltenham Grammar School; B.SC. Hons., Chemistry and Physics, 1948, University of Bristol) before coming to the USA. He worked in the fats and oil industry and in medical research at Walter Reed Medical Hospital for the US Army before continuing his education (Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, 1959, University of Pittsburgh).
For 30 years, he performed research at AT&T Bell Laboratories (later Lucent) at Murray Hill, New Jersey on crystal chemistry and physics, crystal growth, glasses, lasers, semiconductors, ferroelectrics, and fiber optics. He retired as Distinguished Research Scientist in 1989. He taught undergraduate courses at the University of Pittsburgh and taught graduate courses as a Visiting Professor at Princeton University.
He served on the Board of Governors of the non-profit GIA for 20 years and on the Board of Directors of Charles and Colvard for five years. He has been listed in American Men and Women of Science since 1966, Men of Achievement since 1989, and elsewhere and received many honors.
He authored seven books, two of which were published as revised editions and one was translated into Italian and French. The titles include:
Growing Synthetic Crystals (Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, 1964)
Gems Made by Man (Chilton, 1980; reprinted by GlA, Santa Monica, 1987)
The Physics and Chemistry of Color (Wiley, 1983; 2nd revised ed., 2001)
Gemstone Enhancement (Butterworths, 1984; 2nd revised ed.,1994)
Experimenting with Color (Franklin Watts, Division of Grolier Publishing, 1997)
Color for Science, Art, and Technology (Editor and contributor, Elsevier, 1998)
An Ideal Couple; Memoir of a Life for Two (Rosenberger & Krausz, London, 2011)
Dr. Nassau held 17 US patents and published 476 articles. He also authored the ten page article Color in the Encyclopedia Britannica in use since 1988 as well as on its web site. He was a popular speaker giving numerous talks to both general and technical audiences.
After retiring, he worked as a freelance writer and consultant. He participated in over 40 cases and provided expert witness testimony in 12 cases in courts including London, Singapore, and the US Supreme Tax Court. Preceded in death by his wife, Julia, the love of his life, Dr. Nassau died on December 18, 2010. He generously donated his collection of natural and synthetic gems, books, journals and slides to GIA.
