[meteorite-list] POP QUIZ ANSWER

[Shawn Alan]

Hello Listers
 
I would like to thank everyone that submitted their answers for this weeks POP QUIZ FRIDAYS.
 
Question
 
In what year were chondrules first discovered in aerolites aka meteorites? 
 
Answer
 
1799
 
I am sorry but no one got the question right. But all hope is not lost cause there is still a winner. All the people that sent in their answer sent in 1802( even the best of the best sent in this answer and I spoke with some people and suggested I make a winner from the 10th incorrect answers cause it was so close). Good guess, I would have to say that was the year that was the first publication that first talked about spherical granulated substances found in aerolites(meteorites), but was not when they were first observed.
 
In 

Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni (1756–1827) and the origins
of modern meteorite research
 
by
 
Ursula B. MARVIN
 
 
Marvin points out the first incident a scientist first observed these chondrules in a meteorite.....
 
Benares, India, 1798
 
"A dazzling ball of fire exploded across a serene evening
sky near Benares, India, at 8 P.M. on December 19, 1798,
heralding a large shower of stones. Early in 1799, Sir Joseph
Banks in London received a letter from John Lloyd Williams
(about 1765–1838) in India describing the fireball and the
appearance of the stones. All of them, he said, had hard black
crusts like varnish or bitumen and whitish, gritty interiors
with many small spherical bodies interspersed with bright
shining grains of metal or pyrite. Williams (in Howard 1802:
179) concluded:
 
I shall only observe, that it is well known there are no
volcanoes on the continent of India; and, as far as I can
learn, no stones have been met with in the earth, in that
part of the world, which bear the smallest resemblance to
those above described.
 
 
On reading the letter, Sir Joseph was struck by the
apparent similarities between the Benares stones and the
samples he had obtained from the falls at Siena and Wold
Cottage. Judging that it was time for serious scientific
investigations, he handed his two samples to the
accomplished young chemist, Edward C. Howard (1774–
1816) and asked him to analyze them. In December 1800,
Banks presented the Copley Medal, the Royal Society’s
highest honor, to Howard for his discovery of the fulminate of
mercury. In his presentation speech, Banks made it clear that
he believed a new field of research was opening (Sears 1975:
218):
 
Mr. Howard . . . is now employed in the analysis of certain
stones, generations in the air by fiery meteors, the
component parts of which will probably open a new field
of speculation and discussion to mineralogists as well as to
meteorologists."
 
source 
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1996M%26PS...31..545M
PAGE 30
 
 
Here is another account of Williams work with the Benares fall and 
observations........
 
"At length, in 1799, an account of stones fallen in the East Indies was sent to the president, by John Lloyd Williams, Esq. which, by its unquestionable authenticity, and by the striking resemblance it bears to other accounts of fallen stones, mult remove all prejudice. Mr. Williams has since drawn up the following more detailed narrative of facts.
Account of the Explosion of a Meteor, near Benares, in the East Explosion of a
Indies; and of the falling of some Stones at the fame Time, me^°r ""t^"
about 14 Miles from lluii City. By John Lloyd Williams, falling of tome
Esq. F. R. S. stones «the
fame time.
A circumstance of so extraordinary a nature as the fall of stones from the heavens, could not fail to excite the wonder, and attract the attention of every inquisitive mind.
Among a superstitious people, any preternatural appearance is viewed with silent awe and reverence; attributing the causes to the will of the Supreme Being, they do not presume to judge the means by which they were produced, nor the purposes for which they were ordered; and we are naturally led to suspect the influence of prejudice and superstition, in their descriptions of such phenomena; my inquiries were therefore chiefly directed to the Europeans, who were but thinly dispersed about that part of the country.
The information I obtained was, that on the i 9th of De- Narrative, cember, 179S, about eight o'clock in the evening, a very luminous meteor was observed in the heavens, by the inhabitants of Benares and the parts adjacent, in the form of a large ball LarEe ta" of
- ,. , . , , , , , , ,. fire with noise
Oi fire; that it was accompanied by a loud noile, reiembling thumbs.
thunder; and that a number of stones were said to have fallen
from it, near Krakhut, a village on the north side of the river
Goomty, about 14 miles from the city of Benares.
The meteor appeared in the western part of the hemisphere,
and was but a short time visible: it was observed by several
Europeans, as well as natives, in different parts of the country"
 
 
http://books.google.com/books?id=UPg3AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA255&lpg=PA255&dq=John+Lloyd+Williams+in+1799+meteorite&source=bl&ots=7IH2AqE9lt&sig=9kdVFN4BhBwOMmk_T0bQxpuqcbU&hl=en&ei=e8RzTteyEsnw0gGsgrnwDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
 
And one last link to confirm Willimas role....
 
 http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1988KIzND......104E
 
But I would like to add it wasnt till 1869 that the word chondrules was coined  by Gustav Rose.
 
Again I would like to thank everyone that sent in their answers and would like to announce the 10th Lister that sent in the incorrect answer which was 1802 and that Lister is Gabriel G. They will win a free micro grain of the Sylacauga meteorite fall where this stone comes from the Smithsonian collection.
 
Thank you
Shawn Alan 
IMCA 1633 
eBaystore 
http://shop.ebay.com/photophlow/m.html