View source for Walter Frederick Ferrier

{{Short description|Canadian geologist and mining engineer}}
{{infobox scientist|field=geology and mining|alma_mater=[[McGill University]]}}
'''Walter Frederick Ferrier''' (1865–1950) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[geologist]] and [[mining engineer]].

He graduated from [[McGill University]]'s school of mining engineering. He was a tireless [[mineral collector]] and was known for walking straight into mining offices to request specimens. Consequently, he created large collections of mineral specimens of a quality still admired to this day. Many classic specimens would never be in collections had it not been for his effort and skill. 
The mineral specimens he amassed were instrumental in creating the mineral collections of the [[Smithsonian]] in Washington DC, the [[Royal Ontario Museum]] in [[Toronto, Ontario]], Canada, [[University of Alberta]], and the museum particularly dear to his heart, the [[Redpath Museum]] at McGill University in [[Montreal, Quebec]], Canada.

During one of his collecting trips he noticed a bladed mineral enclosed in [[chalcedony]] on the edge of [[Kamloops Lake]] in the Kamloops Mining Division, [[British Columbia]], Canada. It turned out to be a new member of the [[Zeolite]] family of minerals. Subsequently, it was named after him - [[Ferrierite]]. The type material of this mineral is stored at the Redpath Museum and is part of a separate collection that also bears his name.

==References==

* L.S. Stevenson, "Walter F. Ferrier and the Ferrier Mineral Collections", ''Mineralogical Record'', Volume Three, Number Five: September–October 1972, p.&nbsp;232 ''ff''.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrier, Walter Frederick}}
[[Category:1865 births]]
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian geologists]]
[[Category:Canadian mineralogists]]
[[Category:Canadian mining engineers]]
[[Category:Royal Ontario Museum]]
[[Category:McGill University Faculty of Engineering alumni]]