[meteorite-list] Party for the oldest piece of earth?

From: martinh_at_isu.edu <martinh_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat Apr 9 23:31:59 2005
Message-ID: <37a05a37b6f2.37b6f237a05a_at_isu.edu>

Hi All,

If the museum director think this is the oldest thing ever, then he has missed most of the meteorites, and almost all of the universe.

Hmmm, maybe someone could crash their party with a nice piece of Allende?

-Martin


http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/04/09/oldest.object.ap/index.html

Earth's 'oldest thing ever' gets viewing

Zircon crystal sample believed to date back 4.4 billion years

Saturday, April 9, 2005 Posted: 9:58 PM EDT (0158 GMT)

Discovered in Australia in 1984, this speck of zircon crystal is believed to be the oldest known piece of Earth.

MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) -- Call it much ado about almost nothing.

To create buzz about an otherwise arcane subject, the University of Wisconsin-Madison showed off a tiny speck of zircon crystal believed to be the oldest known piece of Earth at about 4.4 billion years old.

Saturday's daylong celebration was capped with "The Rock Concert" by jazz musicians who composed music to try to answer the question: Wh
at does 4.4 billion years old sound like?

"This is it -- the oldest thing ever. One day only," said Joe Skulan, director of the UW-Madison Geology Museum, where the object was displayed under police guard. "The idea of having a big celebration of something that's so tiny -- we're playing with the obvious absurdity of it."

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Received on Sat 09 Apr 2005 11:31:56 PM PDT