[meteorite-list] Richard Norton

Wed May 27 20:46:45 EDT 2009

Hi List,

Just a thought here, in honor of Mr. Norton -

I just noticed that Mr. Norton does not have a wikipedia entry, nor
does his book Rocks from Space.  I think this is a major oversight -
Mr. Norton's contributions surely merit a complete entry in Wikipedia.
 Is there someone here on the list who is fluent with the workings of
Wikipedia?  Perhaps someone could take it upon themselves to post an
entry.

Best regards,

MikeG

On 5/27/09, MeteorHntr at aol.com <MeteorHntr at aol.com> wrote:
> Bernd and all,
>
> I just sold a little piece of Murchison today on  Ebay.  Just another day
> in the life of a meteorite dealer.  However,  this very rock (like many of
> the other meteorites we have) is often mentioned as  being 4.56 Billion
> years
> old.
>
> One human life might make it 100  years.  Richard's didn't make it nearly
> that far.
>
> Thus Murchison is  over 45,600,000 human life spans old.
>
> That is about the same ratio as  there are number of seconds in one year;
> 31,536,000:1
>
> Days like  today remind us that we are all only "temporary curators" of the
> meteorites we  briefly possess.
>
> Even the oldest of our great collecting institutions  have barely held
> their collections for more than two centuries.  Thus, even  our so called
> "permanent collections" have only held these treasures for  1/22,800,000 of
> their
> existence.
>
> Life is just a flicker in comparison.
>
> Richard was a great example to all of us that we have an obligation to
> make our impact on our world while we each have a chance.  And his early
> passing is a reminder to the rest of us that we need to take time
> occasionally
> to stop and appreciate each other's contributions along the way.
>
> Richard himself was an example of both those things we are reminded  of.
> Brend brought up for us today of what Richard wrote in a METEORITE  article
> in 2001:
>
> NORTON O.R. (2001) Centerpiece: Kapoeta - A  Howardite
> Extraordinaire (Meteorite, May 2001, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.  22-24):
>
> "I knew it was different when I first laid eyes on it. During the  2000
> Tucson show
> Steve Arnold was selling thin sections from the Elbert A.  King collection.
> One in
> particular from the Kapoeta howardite caught my  attention. Even without
> magni-
> fication I could see a clast-like feature with  a structure I had not seen
> before  in
> any meteorite, much less in a  howardite."
>
>
> Above, in just one simple sentence, Richard was extending  credit out not
> just to me, but to Dr. King and even to the collecting community  at large
> via the Tucson Show.  He didn't have to include that sentence at  all in
> that
> paragraph, but he did.  In a gentlemanly way, he was  recognizing others'
> contributions to his amazing discovery he was writing  about.
>
> Of course virtually all of Richard's books (and other  writings) extended
> credit and recognition to others as well, in many different  ways.
>
> Maybe in honor of Richard's contribution into all of our  lives, over the
> next 31,536,000 seconds, we can all try to take just one step  closer to
> being more like Richard.  If we do, this list, the meteorite  community, and
> the
> world in general will be a much nicer place to hang  out.
>
> I am going to start:
>
> I want to extend an genuine thanks to  everyone that makes positive
> contributions on this list.  One of my friends  in a private correspondence
> today
> mentioned in reference to Richards passing  that it was "very sad to have
> lost one of the good guys."  In spite of some  riff-raff that shows up here
> on
> the list occasionally, we do have some really  good guys (and gals) here on
> the list.  "Thanks" to all of you good guys  for contributing and making a
> difference!
>
> Steve Arnold
>
>
>
> .
>
> In a message dated 5/27/2009 3:56:00 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
> bernd.pauli at paulinet.de writes:
> "A memory that pops into my mind just now is  of a meeting with Richard and
> Dorothy over lunch in Tucson, one year.  Richard wanted to see what I had
> in
> the way of thin sections when I pulled  out 6 Kapoeta thin sections I had
> from
> the King Collection... He held one of  them up and...said almost in
> amazement:
>
> "This one slide holds a complete  rock collection in it!"
>
>
> NORTON O.R. (2001) Centerpiece: Kapoeta - A  Howardite
> Extraordinaire (Meteorite, May 2001, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp.  22-24):
>
> "I knew it was different when I first laid eyes on it.During the  2000
> Tucson show
> Steve Arnold was selling thin sections from the Elbert A.  King collection.
> One in
> particular from the Kapoeta howardite caught my  attention. Even without
> magni-
> fication I could see a clast-like feature with  a structure I had not seen
> before  in
> any meteorite, much less in a  howardite."
>
> **************We found the real ‘Hotel California’ and the ‘Seinfeld’
> diner. What will you find? Explore WhereItsAt.com.
> (http://www.whereitsat.com/?ncid=emlwenew00000004)
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-- 
.........................................................
Michael Gilmer (Louisiana, USA)
Member of the Meteoritical Society.
Member of the Bayou Region Stargazers Network.
Websites - http://www.galactic-stone.com and http://www.glassthrower.com
..........................................................