Harvey H. Nininger
Encyclopedia
Harvey Harlow Nininger American meteorite
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
collector, self-taught meteoriticist and educator, revived interest in the scientific study of meteorites in the 1930s, and assembled the largest personal collection of meteorites up to that time. He founded the American Meteorite Museum, which was first located near Meteor Crater
Meteor Crater
Meteor Crater is a meteorite impact crater located approximately east of Flagstaff, near Winslow in the northern Arizona desert of the United States. Because the US Department of the Interior Division of Names commonly recognizes names of natural features derived from the nearest post office, the...
, Arizona (1942–53), then in Sedona, Arizona
Sedona, Arizona
Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona...
(1953–60). Part of the Nininger collection was sold to the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
in 1958, and the remainder of the collection was sold to the Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
Center for Meteorite Studies
Center for Meteorite Studies
Founded in 1960, on the Tempe Campus of Arizona State University, the Center for Meteorite Studies houses the world's largest university-based meteorite collection. The collection contains specimens from over 1,600 separate meteorite falls and finds, and is actively used internationally for...
in 1960. The Center displays a selection of these meteorites in their museum, which is open to the public.
Dr. Fletcher Watson of Harvard wrote, in his book Between The Planets (1941), that Nininger was accounting for half of all the meteorite discoveries in the world at that time. In his career, Nininger published some 162 scientific papers and four books relating to meteorites.
Nininger's career as a self-taught and self-financed meteorite scientist and collector was unique. He lived to see meteoritics
Meteoritics
Meteoritics is a science that deals with meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials that further our understanding of the origin and history of the solar system. A specialist who studies meteoritics is known as a meteoriticist....
finally receive serious attention in the earth and space sciences, as he had urged for forty years. Dr. Nininger is considered by many today to be the father of modern meteoritics, having recovered a substantial portion of the meteorites available to scientists today as well as bringing to attention the fact that meteorites are present in great enough concentrations on Earth's surface to actually warrant looking for. Before Dr. Nininger actively pursued his meteorite hunting endeavors, many scientists regarded it as a folly to spend one's time doing so, believing meteorites to be so uncommon as to render searching for them a complete waste of time.
In 1965, Dr. & Mrs. Nininger endowed the Nininger Meteorite Award
Nininger Meteorite Award
The Nininger Meteorite Award recognizes outstanding student achievement in the “Science of Meteoritics” as embodied by an original research paper. In 1965, Dr. Harvey H. Nininger and Mrs. Addie D...
, awarded annually by the Center for Meteorite Studies
Center for Meteorite Studies
Founded in 1960, on the Tempe Campus of Arizona State University, the Center for Meteorite Studies houses the world's largest university-based meteorite collection. The collection contains specimens from over 1,600 separate meteorite falls and finds, and is actively used internationally for...
at Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
.http://meteorites.asu.edu/nininger/
