Meteoritics & Planetary Science 42, Nr 9, Supplement, B3–B68 (2007) http://meteoritics.org Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni (1756–1827) and the origins of modern meteorite research Ursula B. MARVIN Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA E-mail:
[email protected] (Received 7 February 2007; revision accepted 21 June 2007) Abstract–In 1794, Ernst F. F. Chladni published a 63-page book, Über den Ursprung der von Pallas gefundenen und anderer ihr änlicher Eisenmassen und über einige damit in Verbindung stehende Naturerscheinungen, in which he proposed that meteor-stones and iron masses enter the atmosphere from cosmic space and form fireballs as they plunge to Earth. These ideas violated two strongly held contemporary beliefs: 1) fragments of rock and metal do not fall from the sky, and 2) no small bodies exist in space beyond the Moon. From the beginning, Chladni was severely criticized for basing his hypotheses on historical eyewitness reports of falls, which others regarded as folk tales, and for taking gross liberties with the laws of physics. Ten years later, the study of fallen stones and irons was established as a valid field of investigation. Today, some scholars credit Chladni with founding meteoritics as a science; others regard his contributions as scarcely worthy of mention. Writings by his contemporaries suggest that Chladni’s book alone would not have led to changes of prevailing theories; thus, he narrowly escaped the fate of those scientists who propose valid hypotheses prematurely. However, between 1794 and 1798, four falls of stones were witnessed and widely publicized. There followed a series of epoch-making analyses of fallen stones and “native irons” by the chemist Edward C.