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Meteorite Classification

Hello Matt, hello Al, hello List!

For those among us who do not speak German:

The abbreviations used for the classification of iron meteorites like
Ogg, Og, etc. go back to the Rose-Tschermak-Brezina classification
scheme and stand for g = grob (= coarse) and gg = ganz grob (=
quite/very coarse). The D for ataxaites comes from German 'dicht' =
dense.

Gustav Rose (1798-1873) was a German scientist who introduced a
classification system in 1863 that became quite popular and was based on
mineralogy and composition.

Gustav Tschermak (1836-1927) was an Austrian (a native of Litovia,
Moravia = a former province of Austria) who modified Rose's system in
1872 and once more in 1883. His classification criteria were basically
petrographic.
Those famous 'double pyramid' sketches showing the Widmanstätten
structure are by Tschermak.

Aristides Brezina (1848-1909), also Austrian, enlarged his predecessors'
schemes but somehow overdid it. He had, for example, 32 chondrite groups
(differentiated by color, texture, etc.).

Both Tschermak and Brezina (the latter studied under G. Rose) were
custodians of the Vienna mineral collection.

For more detailed information, see John G. Burke (1986) Cosmic Debris,
Meteorites in History, an excellent source for historical information.

Regards, Bernd