[meteorite-list] Fredericksburg meteorite and politics of science

From: drtanuki <drtanuki_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:09:24 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <202471.84991.qm_at_web53214.mail.yahoo.com>

Open letter to the LIST and the NOMCOM and Meteoritics
Researchers,

Mike Farmer and others have brought up the question of
ethics and politics in meteoritics among researchers.
Two examples that come to mind are Fredricksburg and
NWA 869.
  Does the NOMCOM have an ethics committte or a
special committe that is assigned to researching
scientific misconduct and other problems within the
research community and the NOMCOM itself?
  If you know of other research misconduct please feel
free to write about it on this list or privately.
  Thank you, Sincerely, Dirk Ross...Tokyo

--- Michael Farmer <meteoriteguy at yahoo.com> wrote:

> List members.
> I must express my disappointment with Jason for
> quipping that the fact that the Fredericksburg
> meteorite has not been classified, thus is not a
> meteorite. Jason, here are you exact words "It would
> be something like calling
> Fredericksburg (remember that Hexahedrite from a few
> years ago?) an approved meteorite - it's never been
> mentioned in the bulletin or elsewhere, so how can
> you?"
>
> Jason, you know it is a meteorite, and you know why
> it
> has not been approved. Politics and personal grudge
> has turned science into a farce. John Wasson at UCLA
> (the top iron meteorite scientist in the world"
> refuses to submit it since I bought it. He
> classified
> it, confirmed with the owner that it was a
> Hexahedrite
> that was not paired to any other known meteorite,
> and
> tried to buy it. He did not try very hard, as he had
> several years head-start on me. The owner sent many
> faxes and emails to Dr. Wasson, who did not respond
> for more than one year. Tired of waiting, the owner
> found me on eBay, called me, and we made a price. I
> was in Alaska only days later, cash in hand and saw
> the copies of emails. He told me he needed money and
> could no longer wait on UCLA, which did not return
> his
> emails/faxes and phone calls. The emails I saw were
> very clear, asking Dr. Wasson to get in touch with
> him
> and finalize a price and purchase agreement. Those
> phone calls, faxes, and emails all went unanswered
> for
> nearly a year.
>
> Only days after announcing that I had bought the
> meteorite, I received a rather terse and abrupt
> email
> from Dr. Wasson, angry that I had bought "his
> meteorite" and he demanded a large piece for UCLA
> since they had done the work on the meteorite. I
> sent
> them an end cut weighing more than 500 grams
> (Perhaps
> as much as 800 grams, I can't remember because that
> was more than seven years ago). I never heard one
> more
> word from Dr. Wasson, not a "thank you" or anything.
> I
> emailed him numerous times requesting the
> classification data, with no response. I heard
> through
> other scientists that he was quite angry with me for
> buying what he felt was his meteorite.
> It has now been more than seven years since I bought
> Fredericksburg, I don't even remember the exact
> year,
> but in that time, it has all been sold off.
>
> Did I leave anything out? Do you know more about
> this?
> Can I ask what you are calling me on? If UCLA could
> not make a decision or raise the funds years after
> knowing about this meteorite, then I think the loss
> was due to their own lack of interest and
> follow-through and ignoring the repeated requests of
> the man trying to sell them the meteorite. The owner
> needed money, and years
> after asking UCLA for it, decided to sell to myself.
>
> So actually, more than seven years after I bought
> the
> meteorite, and provided more than 500 grams to
> UCLA,
> Dr Wasson refuses to finish the job he started years
> before I ever heard of the meteorite. I guess
> politics
> triumphs over science in this case.
> Pieces of the Fredericksburg meteorite are in
> collections and museums around the world. Mr Wasson
> has the data, so perhaps people who have bought this
> meteorite should start emailing Dr. Wasson, and ask
> him why he will not submit it a decade after doing
> the
> classification. My emails to him have gone
> unanswered,
> so I have to assume that any further attempts by me
> to
> get the data will meet the same fate.
> Michael Farmer
>
>
> This is a simple and complete history of the
> Fredericksburg meteorite from Texas.
>
>
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Received on Tue 20 Mar 2007 01:09:24 AM PDT