[meteorite-list] Fw: "Who is Dr. LaPaz"

From: R N Hartman <rhartman04_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 22:41:02 -0800
Message-ID: <01B91D2DA9DA4AC7B0CF3C139DE2FAF1_at_DBZC5NB1>

From: rhartman04 at earthlink.net
To: sciencegraphics at msn.com
CC: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] "Who is Dr. LaPaz"
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 01:11:00 -0800


> > Nininger was standing on top of the main mass of the Norton County
> > Meteorite
> > when LaPaz and another museum head came onto the site.

Not another museum head, but, rather, Dr. Frederick C. Leonard.

BTW: Richard and I visited LaPaz at the U of New Mexico , probably 1963 or
about, and he showed us the main mass of Norton County, which resided under
a plastic hemisphere to protect it from visitors. He proudly opened drawers
containing probably hundreds of small pieces, some of rather substantial
size, and a cardboard box of about a cubic foot filled with very little
pieces, a cm. or so each in volume. He picked one out and held it between
his fingers, Naturally we were drooling over the possibility of him giving
each of us one of these little "souvenirs". Instead, he pulverized it and
let the dust fall to the floor, stating "Notice how friable this is!"

We were told that "Lincoln has his eccentricities!"

Ron Hartman
----- Original Message -----
From: Dorothy Norton
To: rhartman04 at earthlink.net
Sent: Monday, March 01, 2010 9:49 AM
Subject: FW: [meteorite-list] "Who is Dr. LaPaz"




> From: darryl at dof3.com
> To: almitt at kconline.com
> Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:53:00 -0500
> CC: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com; photophlow at yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] "Who is Dr. LaPaz"
>
>
>
> While his contributions were many, I understand LaPaz's egotistical,
> toxic personality is well documented---including his enmity for
> Nininger.
>
> Best/ Darryl
>
>
>
> On Feb 27, 2010, at 9:57 AM, al mitt wrote:
>
> > Hi Shawn and all,
> >
> > I am sure that some people will disagree with my assessment of
> > LaPaz, but he
> > organized the collection at the UNM in Albuquerque, New Mexico and
> > seem to
> > want to discredit Dr. Nininger every chance he got. While he did
> > contribute
> > some to the understanding of meteorites he was no giant in the field
> > and
> > didn't contribute as much as Nininger was by any means.
> >
> > A lot of his fame is the Norton County Meteorite that he outbid
> > Nininger on.
> > Nininger was standing on top of the main mass of the Norton County
> > Meteorite
> > when LaPaz and another museum head came onto the site. My
> > understanding that
> > Nininger used some of LaPaz's information to triangulate the fall
> > but it
> > takes more than one set of observations for this.
> >
> > He help organize the Meteortic's Society with Nininger but later
> > tried to
> > get Dr. Nininger thrown out of the society. I believe that Nininger
> > resigned. He did spend a great deal of time trying to make Nininger
> > look
> > bad. The two were obvious rivials but not in a healthy sense. Probably
> > because Harvey Nininger was making his living finding and selling
> > meteorites
> > in order to fund his hunts and research. BTW Harvey made attempts to
> > get the
> > scientists and museums of that time to fund his program in order to
> > add to
> > their collections but no one thought it would work except Farrington.
> > Farrington was older and had health problems but wished he could
> > help in
> > Nininger's pursuit.
> >
> > LaPaz was also a hypocrite who frowned on anyone collecting
> > meteorites but
> > after his death a sizeable collection was found in his basement, he
> > was an
> > obvious closet collector. While he didn't help Nininger out, I have
> > always
> > felt that he might have been one of Nininger's inspirations to keep
> > going
> > and not letting anyone get in his way. Same with no one wanting to
> > give
> > Nininger a grant or position at any of the main museums or scientific
> > institutions of that time. It might have drove Nininger to work
> > harder in
> > order to get it done.
> >
> > --AL Mitterling
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Shawn Alan" <photophlow at yahoo.com>
> > To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2010 12:26 AM
> > Subject: [meteorite-list] "Who is Dr. LaPaz"
> >
> >
> > Hello Listers,
> >
> > Its been a crazy day in NYC today with the snow and slush but all
> > has melted
> > and I received a package in the mail today of a Norton County
> > meteorite,
> > weighing at 2.33g from Dr LaPaz collection. Within the package, I also
> > received copies of news paper clippings From the Norton Daily
> > Telegram,
> > dated May 1, 1948 from the meteorite fall, and Dr LaPaz comes up in
> > every
> > article. In one of the clippings there is a photograph of him
> > standing by
> > the meteorite being lifted out of the ground. I haven't read
> > anything about
> > Dr LaPaz till a week ago and was wondering what significance had he
> > had in
> > the meteorite community? I also Wiki him and from what I saw on
> > Wiki, Dr
> > LaPaz was smart guy and got his PhD at a young age. Lastly, along
> > with the
> > meteorite specimens I also received a trinitite fragment weighing at
> > 1.79g
> > that he had collected from the Trinity project and was wondering if
> > people
> > on the list knew much about this stuff.
> >
> > Shawn Alan
> > ______________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >
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Received on Wed 03 Mar 2010 01:41:02 AM PST