The story
After Stephen Van Rensselaer, founder in 1824 of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute + -ite
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
rensselaerite
Today it means: A soft, compact variety of talc, found in New York and Canada.It is an altered pyroxene, sometimes worked in a lathe into ornamental objects. Full definition →