From: Galactic Stone & Ironworks <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Richard Norton
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected], [email protected]
Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 8:46 PM
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, [email protected]
<[email protected]>
wrote:
Bernd and all,
I just sold a little piece of Murchison today onÂ
Ebay. Just another day
in the life of a meteorite dealer.Â
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 100Â years.Â
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.Â
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 METEORITEÂ article
in 2001:
NORTON O.R. (2001) Centerpiece: Kapoeta - AÂ
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 myÂ
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."Â In spite of
some riff-raff that shows up here
on
the list occasionally, we do have some reallyÂ
good guys (and gals) here on
the list. "Thanks" to all of you good guysÂ
for contributing and making a
difference!
Steve Arnold
.
In a message dated 5/27/2009 3:56:00 P.M. Central
Daylight Time,
[email protected]
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 - AÂ
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 myÂ
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
..........................................................
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