[meteorite-list] Private involvement helping science

[Meteorites USA]

Hi Mike, You bring up a valid and accurate point. Private sector 
meteorite hunters have provided meteorites for study for decades, and 
have grown institutional collections ever bigger over the years. Many 
privately funded meteorite hunters have supplied thousands upon 
thousands of meteorites to both institutions and the private sector for 
study and collection. Many thousands of meteorites have been discovered, 
recovered, classified, studied, analyzed, and new scientific discoveries 
have been made as a result. It really feels good to be a part of 
discovery, and the science. To get people involved at a grassroots level 
is what will grow this science and lead to more discoveries. There's 
nothing like meteorite hunting!

Yay for private sector meteorite hunters!

Regards,
Eric



On 8/25/2010 8:50 AM, Galactic Stone & Ironworks wrote:
> Hi List,
>
> I don't want to re-open the debate between science and laymen over the
> involvement of private meteorite hunters.  But I think something
> should be pointed out in regards to the recent development about the
> age of the solar system (story linked below).  This story is a perfect
> example of how private involvement can benefit meteoritics and science
> as a whole.  This NWA meteorite has yielded some potentially-valuable
> data, and the stone was made available by private nomad hunters and
> private collector/dealers.  Without private involvement, this
> meteorite would still be laying undiscovered in the desert and
> possibly buried forever by the marching dunes, or left to suffer the
> fate of terrestrialization as a part of desert pavement.  It's a fun
> and positive thing that laymen can become involved in science in an
> indirect way that produces real results.  And this is also another
> example of how find coordinates for some meteorites is secondary to
> more important secrets the specimens hold.  In this particular case,
> the find coordinates are not fundamental to the discovery.
>
> http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=meteorite-nugget-pushes-back-age-of-2010-08-23
>
> Best regards,
>
> MikeG
>
>
>