AW: [meteorite-list] Most important meteorite?

[Walter Branch]

Hi Martin,

Yes.  That is why I think ALH84001 is the most important meteorite to date.
Not because of the tangibles (the jury is still out) but because of the
intangibles. ALH84001 made us all (meteorite enthusiasts or not) think of
the origins of life and the definition of life, focused attention on rocks
from space, focused attention on the planet Mars (and the upcoming Mars
pathfinder mission) and heightened awareness of things outside this planet

-Walter

-----------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <martinh at isu.edu>
To: "Jörn Koblitz" <koblitz at microfab.de>
Cc: "Adam Hupe" <raremeteorites at comcast.net>; "Walter Branch"
<branchw at bellsouth.net>; <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 8:48 AM
Subject: Re: AW: [meteorite-list] Most important meteorite?


Jörn kindly wrote:

> Most important meteorite: ALH 84001 or NWA 3133?
>
> I think it is difficult to say and is always biased by the personal
> preferences of the collector or scientist,
> but there is a fairly objective measure (at least for scientific
> importance): the number of publications on a specific meteorite.

Hi Jörn and All,

I struggled with this same question in my lastest column in Meteorite
Magazine. I reviewed meteorite books counting the number of times particular
meteorites were referenced in their historical or scientific context. My
focus was on those meteorites that were instrumental in changing our
collective understanding of meteorites. I narrowed the pool further based
upon significant contributions compared to supporting contributions. Sure,
the list of suspects could be longer, but I doubt it could be any shorter.

As for ALH84001, I believe the most important contributions it has made are
that ALH84001: 1) was the focus of a US Presidential p
ress conference, 2) forced us to (yet again) adjust our collective
understanding of evidence of life, and 3) definded a period of meteorite
studies that involved widespread popular discussion that (my poetic license
here) had not been seen since L'Aigle.

I did not mention the particular specimens in the article here. Sorry about
that, but that is what purchasing a subscription is all about

Meteorite Magazine subscription info @:

http://www.meteor.co.nz/

Cheers,

Martin H