Ivan Kostov Nikolov

Ivan Kostov Nikolov Hon HonFMinSoc, Aka Ivan Kostov, was a Bulgarian geologist, mineralogist and crystallographer.

Biography

Ivan Kostov Nikolov was born in Plovdiv on 24 December 1913 (O.S.). He was the second son in the numerous family of Kosta Nikolov, a real estate developer, and his wife, Fanka Nikolova, a housewife. He attended primary and secondary school in his native town and was inspired by walking trips in the Rhodope mountains. In 1932 he commenced his studies in natural history at Sofia University, graduating in 1936. In 1936 Ivan Kostov was appointed assistant in the Mineralogical-Petrographical Institute at Sofia University. In 1940 he was awarded a scholarship by the British Council and began his studies at the Royal School of Mines of Imperial College in London. In 1941 he received D.I.C. In 1943 he was elected Fellow of the Geological Society of London. He remained in London during the Second World War and published papers on ore deposits in Bulgaria and other parts of the world in the Mining Magazine. He also worked as a translator for the Bulgarian Service of the BBC.
Upon his return to Bulgaria in 1945 he was elected associate professor and later to the chair of mineralogy, petrology and crystallography at Sofia University.
In 1961 Ivan Kostov was elected corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and later, in 1966, a full member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
In 1965 he was elected Foreign Member of the Geological Society of London.
He served as Director of the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia from 1974 until his retirement in 1989.