Oral histories in meteoritics and planetary science: I. Edward Anders

Abstract

Abstract— In this interview, taped in 2000 August, during the meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Chicago, Edward Anders ascribes his interest in meteorites to a single moment of inspiration while he was in graduate school. He then reviews those advances that he has found most exciting. Some were contributed by his own research group, but many by others. Among the topics are the following: origin of meteorites (lunar or asteroidal parent bodies, diamonds, Widmanstätten pattern, nebular condensation, meteorite orbits, asteroid spectra); primitive meteoritic matter (Cl chondrites, calcium‐aluminum‐rich inclusions (CAIs), solar‐system abundances, organic matter); meteorite ages (radiogenic ages, cosmic‐ray ages, charged particle tracks); classification of meteorites (chondrites, iron meteorites, unequilibrated chondrites); isotopic anomalies (oxygen, heavy elements, noble gases, interstellar grains); and meteorite impacts (impact craters, K/T mass extinction). Anders spent most of his career (1955–1991) at the University of Chicago where he was the Horace B. Horton Professor of Chemistry from 1973–1991. The Meteoritical Society honored Anders with its Leonard Medal in 1974, and he served as its president in 1991–1992. He then dropped out of science. After residing in Switzerland for several years, Anders returned to the USA where he maintains residences in Burlingame, California, and Chicago, Illinois. Today, Anders can be reached at: eanders1@concentric.net.