Chi Ma

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Chi Ma is a mineralogist and the director of the Analytical Facility in Caltech’s Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. He is known for discovering and describing new mineral phases found in meteorites.

Education and early work
Ma earned a Bachelor of Science in Petrology and Mineralogy from the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) in 1989, studying metamorphism and petrology in central China. He then earned a Master of Science in Geology from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, with a thesis on the alteration of the Huka Falls Formation in the Wairakei geothermal area. His Ph.D. in Mineralogy came from the Australian National University, under Richard A. (Tony) Eggleton, focusing on the ultra-structure of kaolin using high-resolution electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.

Career at Caltech
Ma moved to the United States as a postdoctoral researcher at Caltech, working with George R. Rossman. He started by studying colorful minerals like rose quartz and rainbow obsidian, but soon took over the institution’s electron microbeam analytical facility. As director of Caltech’s analytical facilities, he shifted his focus to analyzing tiny mineral components of meteorites, shedding light on minerals formed during the early Solar System.

Major discoveries
He has worked on the Allende and Khatyrka meteorites and Martian meteorites such as Tissint. Ma has discovered or co-discovered 58 new minerals and contributed to characterizing about 125 minerals in total. Notable minerals linked to his work include tistarite, Ti2O3, ahrensite, gamma-Fe2SiO4, tissintite, krotite, grossmanite, allendeite, and Sc4Zr3O12. In 2016, a new refractory mineral from the solar nebula, Machiite (Al2Ti3O9), was named after him.

Recognitions
Ma was elected a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Meteoritical Society in 2024.