Geologist's interpretation 

Pyromorphite is a lead chlorophosphate mineral that can form exotic looking crystals. The name literally means ‘fire’ and ‘form’. It is often found as either a green or brown mineral looking like crystallised lime or caramel. It can actually occur in many different colours and forms, even white and colourless or faintly tinted varieties are known. It is a type of visually appealing mineral where the colour and form can pique curiosity about its origins and chemistry. As with many minerals, it has an extensive mythology from pre-enlightenment times. For example, claims are made that it can stimulate the flow of good energies and help with an unhealthy attachment to money and material things. It can also enhance your creativity and awaken your inner self. 

In the 1960s to 1980s Australia was economically reliant on digging up stuff from out of the ground, geology graduates were needed. Australian universities had geology collections for teaching and research; most included specimens of pyromorphite from Broken Hill (like this specimen) and/or Mount Isa. As the nature of Australia’s economy has changed, many universities have closed or downscaled their geology programs. University based collections in areas that do not attract a significant student load, such as geology will not attract adequate resources for their effective management. As a result, some have been transferred to other collecting agencies such as state museums, some have been put into storage, some have been ransacked and others have ended up as landfill. 

Geological records are complicated and hard to interpret. It is easy to reach contradictory conclusions. If our higher education sector ever rediscovers an interest in the materials of the earth at some time in the future, recollection will be needed. 

Andrew Simpson is a Postdoctoral Research Affiliate of the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney and the President of UMAC (ICOM’s International Committee for University Museums). He recently authored The Museums and Collections of Higher Education through Routledge. 

Hear more from Andrew:

The Museums and Collections of Higher Education

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A Museum Studies student's interpretation 

With little knowledge about minerals and crystals I look to the object description to understand more about what a pyromorphite is. The information presented states that this lead phosphate comes from the area of Broken Hill in Western, New South Souths. With this one fact about the object’s geographic home, I am led to reflect on one particular experience from my past.

As a child I participated in a city and country sporting exchange that took place in the town of Broken Hill. The dusty rural setting of this community is starkly different to that of South-West Sydney from which I grew up. Broken Hill is a mining town that is known to the world for having one of the biggest sources of lead, zinc and silver.[1]

After one sporting match when the sky was glowing orange with an impending dust storm, an older local man, who was quite active in the sporting community, stopped by to gift the visiting children each a crystal. The crystals we received were similar to that of this pyromorphite. As children we were so intrigued by the way each crystal had their own distinctive formations, with flaky extremities that poked out in all different directions and a brittleness that demanded careful handling. While I'm sure that over a decade on, many of us have misplaced this gift, or left it tucked away on shelves to collect dust 

When looking at this object on display I think of these memories and am reminded not so much of the rich mining history of the rural town, but more so of this act of generosity and how this one moment continues to live on in my mind.

[1] Munro, Stephen. “Minerals of Broken Hill.” National Museum of Australia, August 16, 2023. https://www.nma.gov.au/explore/blog/minerals-of-broken-hill 

Louisa Polson is in her final semester studying a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies at the University of Sydney. In this course she has delved into topics such as museum planning and accessibility, programming and collections management. Her undergraduate studies include a Bachelor of Arts majoring in History and a Bachelor of Creative Arts majoring in Theatre. This interdisciplinary approach has fostered her interest in storytelling as a platform for learning and an interest into the variety of ways stories can be told.

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An experimental physicist's perspective

There’s been a flurry of recent activity in both experimental and theoretical physics, discussing a (now retracted) paper about a potential room temperature superconductor - a material known as LK-99. For the record, it’s been confirmed that this material is not in fact a room temperature superconductor - the experimental results that made this material look like it was superconducting came from pockets of various impurities with strange magnetic characteristics. 

What I find interesting about this object is that the LK-99 compound is chemically very similar to this - lead, phosphorus, and oxygen are all present in both, with LK-99 also containing a fairly small amount of copper. Lead (II) phosphate - the pyromorphite shown here - has the chemical formula Pb3(PO4)2, while LK-99 is CuO25P6Pb9. The ratios of each constituent element (aside from copper) are also surprisingly similar. It’s almost like you add one copper and the occasional oxygen into the mix for every three units of lead (II) phosphate you started with.

I think it’s important to remember that no matter how removed from reality or how ‘sci-fi’ a particular material like LK-99 sounds, it’s probably not too dissimilar from something you can pull out of the ground. 

Tim Newman is an experimental physicist and engineer working on next generation quantum technologies for communication and information processing. Tim is midway through his PhD, and has spent the last two years designing and building experiments using lasers, optics, microwave electronics, and a state-of-the-art cryogenic system. 

In the lab, Tim uses these tools to precisely measure and control atoms of the element erbium which have been implanted into a crystal. These atoms can hold information in the form of light for tens of milliseconds at a time - this is surprisingly long in the context of a computer! Tim is using the results from these investigations to inform the designs of new quantum bits - the quantum equivalent to the ‘zeroes and ones’ we use in our computers every day. Electronic and optical devices like these will be the foundational piece of a future Quantum Internet.

Outside the lab, Tim will often be found riding his bike, mostly in the direction of a beach. He’s a huge music fan too; if you keep an eye out you’ll start noticing him at all manner of events. Do say hi!

Hear more from Tim:
"Building the Quantum Internet," Sydney Quantum Academy
Instagram: @quan_tgmn
Twitter: @tgmn__