From my CV in key words you can read off when and to what extent I had to deal with minerals:
Born 1947 in Berlin, Germany.
1963-66 Craftwork in foundry modelling, pattern maker (Modellbauer). Certificate of apprenticeship (Gesellenbrief) at the Berufsschule für Maschinenschlosser Berlin (professional school for mechanics).
In 1966 I began collecting minerals! (=> 59 years mineral collecting!)
1966-74 Technical employee (Geologiepräparator) at the Institut für Angewandte Geologie, Freie Universität Berlin: Geological preparation methods of rocks and minerals like thin sections and polished sections.
1974 General qualification for university entrance (Allgemeine Hochschulreife, Abitur), at the Berlin-Kolleg.
1974-79 Geology studies at the Technische Universität Berlin. Graduate geologist degree (Diplom-Geologe).
1979-83 Independent researcher (Wissenschaftlicher Angestellter). Research project: “Fission track dating of apatites in the central Eastern Alps”.
1983 Dissertation and doctorate examination (Dr.rer.nat.) at the Technische Universität Berlin. Title of graduate thesis: “On the genesis of the emerald deposit in Habachtal, Austria.”
1983-2012 Curator of the mineral and rock collections at the Technische Universität München.
Lecturer (Akademischer Rat, Akademischer Oberrat, Akademischer Direktor) for mineralogy, geology, microscopy, remote sensing, preparation methods, geological mapping, rock and ore microstructures.
2012 retired.

180 publications (see: ResearchGate Guenter Grundmann)

Research trips to: Central Europe, Western Australia, Egypt, Sudan, South Africa, Bolivia.

Awards

The mineral Grundmannite, CuBiSe2, the Se-analogue of emplectite, a new mineral from the El Dragón Mine, Potosi, Bolivia, was named in recognition of my pioneering work on the El Dragón Mine, Potosi, Bolivia. Reference: Hans-Jürgen Förster, Luca Bindi & Chris J. Stanley (2016) European Journal of Mineralogy, doi 10.1127/ejm/2016/0028-2513

Award certificate for the "2017 Best Article in The Mineralogical Record" St. Andreasberg, Western Harz Mountains, Niedersachsen, Germany by Günter Grundmann, Thomas P. Moore, and Wendell E. Wilson as determined by the Friends of Mineralogy, Socorro, NM, USA.