|
PRE-19th CENTURY FALLS:
I'm
particularly interested in historical falls for several reasons.
First of all, it took a while for the penny to drop amongst
the
intelligentsia that rocks really did fall from the sky. The
main
reason it finally did was the overpowering testimony of people the
world over, mainly
in the 18th and 19th century, who had observed just such events.
These meteorites, then, have important significance for the
history of science.
I
also like the human stories and historical links
around them. Ensisheim, the first European fall of which we
still
have material, landed in 1492 - the same year Columbus "discovered" the
New World. Esterville fell in Iowa in 1879, the year of
Einstein's birth; Zvonkov fell in the Ukraine in 1955, the year he
died. The Weston meteorite fell in Connecticut in 1807;
Thomas Jefferson is reputed to have stated that he would
"rather
believe that 2 Yankee professors would lie, than that stones fall from
heaven." I've tried to give a flavour of this with historical notes beside each specimen.
Finally, from a purely practical point of view, there
are limited (and dwindling) supplies of historic meteorites.
This
means that they are much more likely to hold their value than a recent
fall, which may initially attract a lot of interest (and high prices), but
which can be a poor investment when the
2 or 3 kilos first reported is joined by a couple hundred more.
Here are some of my historic falls. As I need a
cut-off for the definition of 'historic' falls,
I've completely arbitrarily picked Allende. We get a huge shower
of carbonaceous material just before we land on the moon, and it's
close to the date I was born. From Allende onwards I class them as
'modern' falls.
Click on the image for a
larger photo. Note that historical notes are drawn, in part,
from Wikis and should be treated appropriately :-)
|
ENSISHEIM
Fell 7th November, 1492 @ 1130 hrs
Alsace, France
TKW 127kg
Sample: 0.29g |
Brecciated
LL6 ordinary chondrite |
France
1492
|
Columbus
sets sail for the New World. Ferdinand and Isabella defeat
the Moors and expel the Jews from Spain. Da Vinci completes his Vitruvian Man.
|
TABOR
Fell 3rd July, 1753 @ 2000 hrs
Jihocesky, Czech Republic
TKW 7.5kg
Sample: micro |
Brecciated
H5 ordinary chondrite |
Czech R
1753
|
Linnaeus
publishes Species
Plantarum, the first attempt at formal scientific
classification of life. His Genus
species scheme is still used today. Establishment
of the British Museum.
|
ALBARETO
Fell July, 1766
Emilia-Romagna, Italy
TKW 2kg
Sample: micro |
L/LL4
ordinary chondrite |
Italy
1766
|
Birth of Robert (father of Charles) Darwin, John Dalton (chemist
and physicist). Death of James Francis Edward Stuart, the "Old
Pretender", father of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
|
MAUERKIRCHEN
Fell 20th November, 1768 @ 1600 hrs
Ober-Österreich, Austria
TKW 19kg
Sample: micro |
L6
ordinary chondrite |
Austria
1768
|
Captain James Cook sails
from Plymouth on his first voyage, will reach Australia in 1770.
Death of Italian master Canaletto.
|
SIENA
Fell 16th June, 1794 @ 1900 hrs
Tuscany, Italy
TKW 3.7kg
Sample: micro |
Brecciated
LL5 ordinary chondrite |
Italy
1794 |
Slavery is abolished by
the French Republic. US Senate opens first public session.
Coffee is banned in Sweden by royal decree.
|
|
