Dr. James Shigley, GIA Distinguished Research Fellow, GIA Research
The link below will take you to Pegmatite References prepared by Dr. James Shigley, a researcher at the Gemological Institute of America. The list is dated January 1, 2024. This information could be useful for those interested in gemological research and the study of pegmatites.
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Dr. James Shigley and His Bibliography of Pegmatites
The Geo-Literary Society is grateful to Dr. James Shigley for his contribution to the literature of the geo-sciences. His most recent effort is the creation of this Bibliography of Pegmatites.
Dr. James Shigley joined GIA in 1982 after completing his degree at the University of California, Berkeley and getting a doctorate in geology from Stanford University. For almost 42 years, Dr. James Shigley has been widely recognized as the face of GIA research. Since 1982, he has represented the Institute around the world, lecturing and publishing extensively on topics related to diamonds, colored stones, gem origin, and identification.
He joined GIA as a senior research scientist and quickly proved his mettle in the laboratory, becoming manager of the research department within three years of his arrival. In 1987, he became GIA’s director of research. Today, he serves as the Institute’s first and only distinguished research fellow. Dr. Shigley has mentored countless staff members during his career including the GIA’s Liddicoat Postdoctoral Research Fellowship researchers.
Shigley has been a prolific contributor to gemological research. As of December 2023, he has authored or coauthored 205 articles, 89 articles for Gems & Gemology alone; 29 of those have received the journal’s Most Valuable Article award. He serves as a contributing editor for G&G, and as the editor of the G&G in Review book series. Shigley was instrumental in the creation of the GIA Gem Project, a collection of 2,800 stones (representing 225 minerals) from Edward J. Gübelin.
He began developing his citation library when he received feedback on an article that there was more published literature on the topic. That launched his commitment to locating articles at UCLA, GIA, and other libraries. Later he obtained a software program that would enable him to create a searchable database.
The current Endnote database has 76,000 records. Twice a year he goes through roughly 250 journals to find articles to add to the database. He has also searched a number of historical journals and books at HathiTrust. The strength of the database is that Shigley assigns keywords of gemological interest when he enters the articles. Dr. Shigley has assembled this pegmatite bibliography from that database.
Adapted from James Shigley: The Face of GIA Research at www.gia.edu