[meteorite-list] Family Claims MeteoriteFellInTheirCourtyardinIndia

[Chris Peterson]

Hi Sergey-

I've been in India many times, and for extended periods. During most of 
those times, I was working with scientists and physicians, so I feel 
quite confident about my comments that Indian scientists (a 
generalization, of course) do often see the world differently, and also 
that the public view of science is quite different in India than in the 
developed west.

I've never been to Russia, but since skepticism and pseudoscience are 
interests of mine, I consider myself well informed about scientific 
opinion in Russia. In particular, I note that there have been several 
panels of important scientists with sterling international reputations 
who have urged the Russian government and Russian educational 
institutions to address the problem of rampant pseudoscience in their 
country. Their letters, which resemble the sort that groups of Nobel 
laureates in the U.S. offer up in regards to Intelligent Design, are far 
broader than any single area. It is quite clear that many respected 
scientists in Russia consider this to be a serious problem.

IMO Russian science, both institutional and public, has yet to recover 
from the massive politicization of the Soviet era. That certainly does 
not mean that good science doesn't come from Russia or the former Soviet 
countries (indeed, most of the foundations of modern meteoritics came 
from Czechoslovakia, while it was a Soviet satellite). All it means is 
that there may be more chaff mixed with the wheat in some countries- 
Russia included.

Chris

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


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sergey Vasiliev" <petrovich at sv-meteorites.com>
To: "Chris Peterson" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>; 
<Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 6:49 PM
Subject: RE: [meteorite-list] Family Claims 
MeteoriteFellInTheirCourtyardinIndia


> Hello Chris and all,
>
> Chris, you point is good. Really. But somehow I have a feeling that 
> all your
> logic is based on the newspaper's articles.
> You had been in India for a few days - I got it. Have you been in 
> Russia? If
> so, where did you meet the scientists? In the church?
>
> As for the meteorites, MetBulls from #1(1957) till #49(1970) were 
> printed in
> Moscow.
> Here is a link:
> http://meteoriticalsociety.org/simple_template.cfm?code=pub_bulletin
>
> Just a link to think about ;-)
>
> All the best to all!
> Sergey