[meteorite-list] Family Claims Meteorite Fell InTheirCourtyardinIndia

[Chris Peterson]

Hi Martin, Svend-

To be clear, I wasn't referring to Indian meteorite collections, or the 
ultimate ability of Indian geologists to discriminate meteorites from 
meteorwrongs, but the general understanding of the science behind 
meteorite falls. I think there are certain countries that are much more 
likely to embrace bad science or pseudoscience (India and Russia come 
immediately to mind). That doesn't mean that you don't find good 
scientists, but it does mean that it's much easier to encounter people 
called "scientists" who are not, at least by most standards. Couple this 
with a public and media that is particularly credulous (and in the case 
of India, superstitious), and you get some very odd reports.

I've experienced this first hand in India, where I've spent a lot of 
time. As an example, when I was in Rajastan for a solar eclipse in 1995, 
a "scientist"- from a university- came to our hotel the day before to 
distribute information about protecting ourselves from the harmful rays 
of eclipsed Sun. Not our eyes, mind you, but ourselves and any exposed 
food that could be "poisoned". He recommended that we stay in the hotel 
rooms with the curtains drawn until the event was over! A Indian friend 
in our party, pregnant at the time, had to work very hard to convince 
herself that she wasn't endangering her fetus by watching the eclipse. 
She is very well educated, but her cultural bias was difficult to 
overcome (the child is healthy and well, living now in Ithaca, NY). Much 
of my work in India has been with physicians, and again, it is 
remarkable some of the odd beliefs they have, even after years of 
medical school in the U.S.

Please don't interpret anything I've said as a slam towards any 
individual scientists or institutions. It's just an observation about 
the degree to which culture and science can clash- more in some places 
than others. I expect that there are others on this list, who have spent 
time outside developed countries, who have encountered similar clashes. 
And while media stories about suspected meteorite falls tend to be of 
poor quality regardless of origin, this is not universally so in the 
U.S. or Europe. I do see some pretty good stories, especially follow-up 
stories. But I honestly have no recollection of _any_ credible report of 
a meteorite fall coming out of India (other than journal articles), and 
the media stories tend to show _really_ glaring errors- this most recent 
one being a good example (and quite typical, I'm afraid).

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Martin Altmann" <altmann at meteorite-martin.de>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 2:02 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Family Claims Meteorite Fell 
InTheirCourtyardinIndia


Hi Chris,

and exactely Svend,

India has a long collecting tradition that rivals that from European
countries. That it also the reason for Indian falls ranking among the 
most
expensive meteorites in Cohen's and Ward's price lists.

Perhaps the list-member of India can give us some more historical hints
here.

Best,
Martin