Shan Hai Jing written by China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is the earliest book in the world that systematically describes mineral raw materials. So far, this subject has experienced nearly 2500 years of development. According to different research techniques and methods, the development history of mineralogy can be divided into five stages:1naked eye description stage before the mid-9th century,1polarized light and reflection microscope research stage after the mid-9th century, X-ray structural analysis and mineral genesis research stage at the beginning of 20th century, high temperature and high pressure experimental research stage in 1930s, and comprehensive research stage of mineral physics formed in 1960s. According to the depth and breadth of research, the development history of mineralogy can be divided into two stages: the descriptive mineralogy stage before the 20th century and the in-depth study on the essence and genesis of minerals since the 20th century.

Today, mineralogy has become the most important basic discipline of petrology, mineral deposit science, geochemistry, geophysics, mineral materials science and environmental geology, and even the foundation of stratigraphy, structural geology, mining, mineral processing, metallurgy and other related disciplines.

1. Modern analytical testing techniques and new multidisciplinary theories have been introduced into mineralogical research.

From 2,500 years ago to the beginning of the 20th century, mineralogical research has been limited to simple identification, description under ordinary optical microscope and wet general chemical analysis, involving only the basic aspects of mineral external morphology, macroscopic physical properties, main chemical components, occurrence, source, use and qualitative classification. In the whole international mineralogy field, it is still in the stage of descriptive mineralogy, or it is still in the stage of naked eye description before1mid-9th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, developed countries began to introduce X-ray analysis into mineral research, and entered a new stage of mineral X-ray structure analysis and mineral genesis research. In 1930s, high temperature and high pressure experimental technology and thermodynamic theory were introduced into the international mineralogy field, and the high temperature and high pressure experimental research stage of mineralogy began. After that, in a short period of time, gas-liquid inclusion experimental technology, warm-pressure geochemical theory, microbeam detection technology (electron probe, ion probe, laser probe, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence, etc. ), crystal chemistry theory and other high-tech (laser spectrum, Raman spectrum, infrared spectrum, mass spectrum, Mossbauer spectrum, paramagnetic vibration spectrum, nuclear magnetic * * *) have been introduced. Through interdisciplinary and computer technology, mineralogical research has achieved a leap from microscopic particles to microscopic fields, from macro to microscopic fields, from phenomena to essence, from static to dynamic, from local to whole, from sporadic dispersion and isolation to comprehensive system interconnection. At present, the understanding of minerals is not limited to the external characteristics such as macroscopic morphological properties, but also extends to the arrangement of atoms or ions of major elements in minerals, the occurrence state of impurity elements, different valence states and bonds of elements, isotopes and their ratios of elements, color centers of minerals, distribution of charge density in minerals, surface properties of minerals, free H and O in mineral fluid inclusions, lattice defects of minerals, rheological properties of minerals, and effects of minerals on sound, light, electricity and magnetism. In addition, the experiment, simulation, calculation and analysis of internal and external conditions of mineral formation and evolution, as well as the application research of related achievements in geological theory discussion, mineral resources search, gem processing, mineral material development, environmental monitoring and other aspects have also been gradually strengthened. Admittedly, at the beginning of the 20th century, the semi-feudal and semi-colonial social and political forms seriously hindered the development of mineralogy in China. With the birth of New China and the great development of productivity, it is possible for China mineralogy to introduce modern analytical and testing techniques and combine them with new theories of many disciplines, thus enabling China mineralogy to enter the stage of basically synchronous development with international mineralogy at the end of the 20th century.

2. Multidisciplinary integration and human production and life practice have promoted the vigorous development of mineral science.

The core view of materialism is that existence determines consciousness. The occurrence and development of any scientific category is compatible with the production and life of human society. Before the middle of the 20th century, an important problem faced by the international community was the lack of mineral resources, so serving mineral exploration became the primary task of mineralogical research. In the second half of the 20th century, mineral analysis and testing technology became increasingly diversified and modernized. Mineralogy contains a lot of new ideas and theories from other disciplines. People pay more and more attention to their own quality of life and living environment, and the resource attributes of mineralogy have obviously differentiated. The most striking thing is to derive or highlight the environmental and aesthetic properties of minerals. Driven by the integration with many disciplines and the practice of human production and life, mineralogy has developed to today, forming many branches, some of which are products of the 20th century, such as genetic mineralogy, mineral crystal chemistry, mineral physics, inclusion mineralogy and experimental mineralogy, while others are the continuation and development of19th century. Some have formed a systematic discipline system with relatively complete theory and research technology, such as mineral morphology, systematic mineralogy, mineral crystal chemistry, genetic mineralogy, mineral physics, mineral deposit mineralogy, inclusion mineralogy, mineral prospecting mineralogy, gem mineralogy, etc. Some have no systematic and complete theory and research technology, but will play an important role in the future social development, so they have strong vitality, such as environmental mineralogy, surface mineralogy, nano-mineralogy, mineral materials, etc. Therefore, mineralogy in contemporary China is a multi-branch discipline system, which can be divided into four parts: mineral history, descriptive mineralogy, theoretical mineralogy and applied mineralogy, among which mineral crystal chemistry, mineral physics and genetic mineralogy are the main theoretical pillars of modern mineralogy.

1998 Mr. Chen Guangyuan said that Russian scholars have studied the relationship between minerals and the origin of life in life mineralogy. The author suggests that the interaction between living things (including microorganisms, macro-animals, plants and human bodies) and minerals should be studied in the scope of life mineralogy, so life mineralogy includes medical mineralogy, biological mineralogy, agronomy and environmental mineralogy, which is a subject with great development prospects at home and abroad.