[meteorite-list] Our Friend Harvey... ( NYT )

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2011 13:35:09 +0200
Message-ID: <003601cbf5e1$0531fd40$0f95f7c0$_at_de>

Kollekted Kvotes - Best of Dr.Ralph Harvey.
>From 1999 - 2011



``There's no doubt it hurts science,'' said Case Western Reserve University
geologist Ralph Harvey. ``It's a real problem, and it's not just meteorites.
It's rare natural specimens of any kinds. Fossils are even a more visible
example.''

---------------


But some meteorites that have been identified by scientists as blasted from
the Martian surface are now going for thousands or tens of thousands of
dollars a gram. A few are rumored to be on sale for a million dollars or
more.p. "That's a lot money. That puts them out of the reach of
researchers," says Ralph P. Harvey, an assistant professor of geological
sciences at Case Western Reserve University and an expert on Martian
meteorites. "And that, in a nutshell, is the problem."p. Mr. Harvey, who
heads a National Science Foundation-sponsored program that collects
Antarctic meteorites and provides them to researchers at no cost, is worried
that the rising prices being asked for Martian meteorites, as well as for
other meteorites found in Antarctica, may also be encouraging private
expeditions to the frozen continent by commercial meteorite prospectors

"The problem is that people are getting the idea that meteorites are worth
their weight in gold," he says.p. "Meteorites right now have an accentuated
value," says Mr. Harvey, of Case Western Reserve. "What's clear is that a
lot of people are trying to cash in. Now everyone thinks that they not only
have a meteorite, but a Martian meteorite."

-------------------

But although science may be a victim of this new crime, it might also be an
unwitting accomplice, warns Ralph P Harvey, assistant professor at Case
Western Reserve University, Ohio, and principal of the US Antarctic Search
for Meteorites program.

He told the BBC that the methods used to get meteorites out of Africa,
particularly Morocco and Libya, were questionable. He said private
collectors were going to these countries to obtain the space rocks before
selling them on to academic institutions. "But its not clear that these
meteorites came out of these countries legally," he said.

--------------------

"God bless the people who realize in science how important altruism can be,"
Harvey said. (that's my absolute favorite :-) Martin)

"The expeditions who use our information to help a tourist pick up a
meteorite and lock it away in a private collection, it's a travesty to me."

--------------------

"It's a black market," said Ralph P. Harvey, a geologist at Case Western
Reserve University who directs the federal search for meteorites in
Antarctica. "It's as organized as any drug trade and just as illegal."

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Shall I continue?
I have currently some problems regarding the credibility of Dr.Harvey's
disclaimer....

Later perhaps more.

Seems a lot of work, to take his fears away.
Or are we really so eeeeevil?

Martin
NYT: "Know your dealer".

Want some moondust?....
Received on Fri 08 Apr 2011 07:35:09 AM PDT