[meteorite-list] "Who is Dr. LaPaz"

[James Balister]

Remember this, When the government need advice they called on LaPaz, not Nininger!  What does that tell you?



----- Original Message ----
> From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
> To: al mitt <almitt at kconline.com>; Shawn Alan <photophlow at yahoo.com>; meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Sent: Sat, February 27, 2010 1:48:14 PM
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] "Who is Dr. LaPaz"
> 
> Al, List,

History always decides these rivalries. There will
never be 
> a posting on this (or any other) List with
the subject "Who is Harvey 
> Nininger"!


Sterling K. 
> Webb
-----------------------------------------------------------------
----- 
> Original Message ----- From: "al mitt" <> ymailto="mailto:almitt at kconline.com" 
> href="mailto:almitt at kconline.com">almitt at kconline.com>
To: "Shawn 
> Alan" <> href="mailto:photophlow at yahoo.com">photophlow at yahoo.com>; <> ymailto="mailto:meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com" 
> href="mailto:meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com">meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: 
> Saturday, February 27, 2010 8:57 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] "Who is Dr. 
> LaPaz"


> Hi Shawn and all,
> 
> I am sure that some 
> people will disagree with my assessment of LaPaz, but he
> organized the 
> collection at the UNM in Albuquerque, New Mexico and seem to
> want to 
> discredit Dr. Nininger every chance he got. While he did contribute
> some 
> to the understanding of meteorites he was no giant in the field and
> 
> didn't contribute as much as Nininger was by any means.
> 
> A lot 
> of his fame is the Norton County Meteorite that he outbid Nininger on.
> 
> Nininger was standing on top of the main mass of the Norton County 
> Meteorite
> when LaPaz and another museum head came onto the site. My 
> understanding that
> Nininger used some of LaPaz's information to 
> triangulate the fall but it
> takes more than one set of observations for 
> this.
> 
> He help organize the Meteortic's Society with Nininger 
> but later tried to
> get Dr. Nininger thrown out of the society. I believe 
> that Nininger
> resigned. He did spend a great deal of time trying to make 
> Nininger look
> bad. The two were obvious rivials but not in a healthy 
> sense. Probably
> because Harvey Nininger was making his living finding 
> and selling meteorites
> in order to fund his hunts and research. BTW 
> Harvey made attempts to get the
> scientists and museums of that time to 
> fund his program in order to add to
> their collections but no one thought 
> it would work except Farrington.
> Farrington was older and had health 
> problems but wished he could help in
> Nininger's pursuit.
> 
> 
> LaPaz was also a hypocrite who frowned on anyone collecting meteorites 
> but
> after his death a sizeable collection was found in his basement, he 
> was an
> obvious closet collector. While he didn't help Nininger out, I 
> have always
> felt that he might have been one of Nininger's inspirations 
> to keep going
> and not letting anyone get in his way. Same with no one 
> wanting to give
> Nininger a grant or position at any of the main museums 
> or scientific
> institutions of that time. It might have drove Nininger to 
> work harder in
> order to get it done.
> 
> --AL 
> Mitterling
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Shawn 
> Alan" <> href="mailto:photophlow at yahoo.com">photophlow at yahoo.com>
> To: 
> <> href="mailto:meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com">meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> 
> Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2010 12:26 AM
> Subject: [meteorite-list] 
> "Who is Dr. LaPaz"
> 
> 
> Hello Listers,
> 
> Its 
> been a crazy day in NYC today with the snow and slush but all has melted
> 
> and I received a package in the mail today of a Norton County meteorite,
> 
> weighing at 2.33g from Dr LaPaz collection. Within the package, I also
> 
> received copies of news paper clippings From the Norton Daily Telegram,
> 
> dated May 1, 1948 from the meteorite fall, and Dr LaPaz comes up in 
> every
> article. In one of the clippings there is a photograph of him 
> standing by
> the meteorite being lifted out of the ground. I haven't read 
> anything about
> Dr LaPaz till a week ago and was wondering what 
> significance had he had in
> the meteorite community? I also Wiki him and 
> from what I saw on Wiki, Dr
> LaPaz was smart guy and got his PhD at a 
> young age. Lastly, along with the
> meteorite specimens I also received a 
> trinitite fragment weighing at 1.79g
> that he had collected from the 
> Trinity project and was wondering if people
> on the list knew much about 
> this stuff.
> 
> Shawn Alan
> 
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