A very large case of wanting "sumpthin-for-nuthin"???????????
Dave F.
stan . wrote:
The samples would be available
for the future experiments that anyone might conceive - rather than
sitting
lost in some dusty drawer...or in a membrane box, decaying away on
someone's
desk.
Quite the contrary to this notion I feel that private collectors CAN
and DO serve to protect the science that lies trapped in meteorites. I
cant speak for all collectors (although i know othes who do this) but
just this week I recived a request from a lab in europe for samples of
material in my collection and I'll probably get around to sending them
out after the weekend. I even offered to look for specific material
they want that I dont have but may be able to aquire. My problem with
this whole issue is reading articles like this:
"Save the space rocks! The meteorites are vanishing and if something
isn't done soon, most of Earth's rare space rocks could be gone in a
lifetime or so says the University of Arizona's Southwest Meteorite
Center, a newly founded organization created to combat what a UA
scientist and a private meteorite collector identify as part of the
problem: collectors. Samples that have fallen over millions of years
are being found and collected over just a few decades. Dealers are
buying meteorites at prices the scientific community cannot match and
cutting them into small pieces for sale to bidders in a flooded
market. In an attempt to save the space stones from becoming slivers,
the SWMC will offer collectors, dealers and enthusiasts a fair price
to obtain part of the vanishing meteorite legacy."
http://uanews.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/UANews.woa/24/wa/SRStoryDetails?ArticleID=12216
That sounds pretty darn anti-private collection and pretty darn
pro-'soak up whatever we can' to me.
essentially all unusual meteorites get classified. that means type
specimins of all the 'good stuff' are being curated already,
protecting the scientific legacy. the only thing 'new' about the SWMC
is an organization trying to raise major funds to aquire major chunks
of what is avalible to the public - above and beyond the simple
curation of type specimins.
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