[meteorite-list] A question for the scientists - Bunch, Rubin, others.

From: aerubin at ucla.edu <aerubin_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:44:43 -0700
Message-ID: <20100613164443.12827bnhvtkplvwo_at_mail.ucla.edu>

I was always fascinated by Astronomy as a kid and never thought of
doing anything else. I received my B.S. in Astronomy from the
University of Illinois. When I decided to go to grad school I was
working part-time at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and did not want
to leave the city. I went for my M.S. at the University of Illinois,
Chicago; because they didn't have an Astronomy program there, I went
into Geology. I had previously taken only an introductory course in
Geology as an undergraduate, but I liked it. I needed to write a
Master's thesis and the only thing I could think of at the time that
combined astronomy and geology was meteorites. So, I did a master's
thesis on mesosiderites. I went for my Ph.D. at the University of New
Mexico, partly on the advice of Ed Olsen (my Master's adviser and
Curator of Meteorites at the Field Museum). He said that they
actually looked at meteorites at UNM instead of just breaking them
apart and analyzing them. That appealed to me. (I turned down an
astronaut fellowship at Washington University to go to UNM.) I
enjoyed the work I was doing in New Mexico and did a one-year post-doc
at the Smithsonian before going to UCLA. Anyway, that's my story.
Alan


Quoting Galactic Stone & Ironworks <meteoritemike at gmail.com>:

> Hi Listees,
>
> I have a question for the scientists and meteoriticists on this List :
>
> At what point in your academic career did you decide to pursue
> meteoritics? Did you set out from the beginning to study meteorites,
> or did you move to meteoritics by some twist of fate or serendipity?
>
> I wish I had been "turned on" to meteorites earlier in my life, so I
> could have decided to pursue it as a career, and not as a hobby. But
> alas, this old dog is too old and poor to enter college again and
> pursue the science. So I am curious what led our experts to the field
> of meteorites.
>
> Best regards,
>
> MikeG
>
>
>
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Mike Gilmer - Galactic Stone & Ironworks Meteorites
> http://www.galactic-stone.com
> http://www.facebook.com/galacticstone
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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Received on Sun 13 Jun 2010 07:44:43 PM PDT