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Re: L'AIGLE AUCTION IN LONDON
Ammonite schrieb:
> This piece is of particular interest, as it was found by the
> accomplished French astronomer Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774-1862),
> when he visited the site of the L'Aigle fall in Normany, France in 1803.
> Biot was a member of the Academie According to Christie's catalogue,
> it was Biot's paper that "proved" meteorites fell from the sky.
> Biot collected several stones himself, ...
> As most of you will know, I'm sure, authenticated documents such as
> these (which constitute a solid provenance), can greatly increase the
> value of an artifact with historic significance.
_____ SNIP ________
Rocks From Space II, pp. 39 and 73:
The first two conclusions were already finding general acceptance by
many scientists. The third, and most important, fell on deaf ears.
Members of the respected French Academy of Sciences were most resistant
to the idea of stones falling from the sky. Then at midday on April 26,
1803, as if to mock the doubting scientists, meteorites literally rained
down on L’Aigle in Normandy, France. More than three thousand stones
were gathered within days of the fall. Jean-Baptiste Biot, a renowned
French scientist, investigated and presented overwhelming evidence to
the Institut National de France. Biot found that the meteorites had
fallen within an elliptical area. He was the first to describe the shape
of the strewn field commonly taken by meteoritic bodies as they scatter
along the flight path of the incoming fireball. After Biot's careful and
thorough investigation of the L’Aigle fall, French scientists finally
accepted the overwhelming evidence, and most of them agreed with Biot's
conclusions. Rocks did, indeed, fall from space.
L'Aigle. The nineteenth century was blessed with many spectacular
meteorite showers. The century began with the fall of three thousand
stones near the town of L’Aigle (Orne) in Normandy, France, on April 26,
1803. They were distributed over an ellipse 6 miles long and 2.5 miles
wide, with its major axis oriented to the northwest. Jean Baptiste Biot,
a member of the National Institute of France, investigated the fall
exhaustively. His investigation resulted in the first recognition of a
distribution ellipse and the recovery of about 17 pounds of small
stones. The largest weighed about 4 pounds. Though not the most
spectacular shower on record, historically it remains one of the most
important, since Biot's investigation established beyond doubt the
reality of meteorite showers.
Regards, Bernd
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