Henry Clifton Sorby

Henry Clifton Sorby was an English amateur microscopist and geologist. His major contribution was the development of techniques for thin sectioning of rocks and minerals with polarized light under a microscope which was also extended to study iron and steel, his family having been involved in the Sheffield iron and steel industry for generations. He also contributed to the study of meteorites by introducing a method of blowpipe analysis where molten beads were flattened for microscopic study. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857.