Ron Gibbs was born in 1948 in California, and began his rock collecting in the Mojave desert with his uncle in the early 1960’s. He attended the University of Southern California and graduated with a BS in Chemistry. He then attended the University of Texas at Austin and received an MS in Chemistry with a minor in Geology.

He worked as a research chemist for the Dow Chemical Company in Ziegler-Natta catalysis and ceramics formulation. He eventually moved to computer science and worked in scientific computing, scientific visualization, and digital photography. Upon retirement he taught beginning Geology for one year at a small Michigan University before retiring to North Carolina where he currently resides with his wife.

His first WEB site, www.theimage.com, was created in early 1996, and it was one of the first 3 or 4 sites on the internet related to minerals, gemstones, and digital photography. The site currently has well over 3000 images of identified minerals and gems.

He was the WEB master for the Midwest Federation of Mineralogical and Geological Societies from 2003 - 2005. He is the current WEB master for the Gem and Mineral Club in Charlotte, NC. (www.charlottegem.com)

A regular presenter at the Macworld Expo Conferences from 1988 through 2003, and the Mactivity Conferences (1992- 1996), he gave over 100 presentations on communications, scientific computing, digital photography, WEB graphic creation, and beginning 3D animation. He continues to give teaching-lectures on digital macro and micro photography to local computer and gem & mineral clubs.