Citizen / General public
Researcher
Student / Future student
Company
Public partner
Journalist
Teacher / Pupil

Razvan Caracas receives the Dana Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America

Razvan Caracas is a CNRS Senior Researcher in the Cosmochemistry, Astrophysics and Experimental Geochemistry team at the IPGP. He received the Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA), of which he was also elected Fellow, and became a member of the Academia Europaea.

Razvan Caracas receives the Dana Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America

Publication date: 04/03/2024

Awards and Distinctions, Press

Razvan Caracas is a computational mineral physicist whose research spans a wide range of topics in planetary mineralogy, spanning from the protolunar disks to the inner structure of terrestrial planets and ice giants. His dual expertise in Geology and Materials Science, along with a solid background in algorithms and coding, has enabled him to consistently provide computational solutions to fundamental questions in mineralogy and geology.

Currently, he employs a combination of ab initio methods and machine learning algorithms to study supercritical fluids, silicate melts, and evaporation processes, with a special focus on magma oceans and atmosphere formation.

He was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant IMPACT, where he studied the formation and evolution of the protolunar disk. He is the main developer of the Magmatomix/UMD package for complex analysis of molecular dynamics simulations and leader of the WURM project – a freely available repository of computed physical properties for minerals, with a special focus on Raman and infrared spectra.

He also has a strong outreach activity by organizing the itinerant international exhibition “MoonImpact – a geological story,” giving general lectures, and launching and promoting Mineralogy2022 – The Year of Mineralogy.

Latest news
IPGP–INGV Workshop – 5 to 7 November 2025
IPGP–INGV Workshop – 5 to 7 November 2025
Three days of discussions to strengthen scientific and technical cooperation between the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and the Istituto Nazio...
Catherine Chauvel receives the Léon Lutaud Prize from the Academy of Sciences
Catherine Chauvel receives the Léon Lutaud Prize from the Academy of Sciences
On Tuesday 28 October, Catherine Chauvel, CNRS research director at the Paris Institute of Earth Physics, received the Léon Lutaud Prize from the Acad...
Tracking organics in (bio)carbonates – A step forward in the search for biosignatures
Tracking organics in (bio)carbonates – A step forward in the search for biosignatures
An innovative analytical method conducted by researchers from IPGP, in collaboration with Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (...
Passing of Jean-Louis Le Mouël (1938–2025)
Passing of Jean-Louis Le Mouël (1938–2025)
Jean-Louis Le Mouël, former provisional administrator (1986–1991) and director of the Institut de physique du globe de Paris (1991–1996), passed away ...