Oral histories in meteoritics and planetary science: II. Robert N. Clayton

Abstract

Abstract— In this interview, taped during the Meteoritical Society meeting in Chicago in 2000 August, Robert Clayton who started his career as a terrestrial geochemist, describes how he first analyzed meteorite samples with great reluctance after years of resisting every suggestion from his colleagues that he study them. He also relates how the unaccountable results he obtained while correcting oxygen‐18 analyses for carbon‐13 in CO2 made sense only when he finally realized that he actually was analyzing oxygen‐17. By sheer serendipity this result led to the fundamentally important new result that Allende and other meteorites carry an anomalous exotic component. Clayton now finds research on extra‐terrestrial materials to be extremely interesting and exciting, with new systems turning up every year. He regrets the lack of interest he encounters in many young scientists and hopes that the availability of martian samples will persuade more terrestrial geologists and geochemists to enter the field. Clayton made his career at the University of Chicago where he has served since 1980 as the Enrico Fermi Distinguished Service Professor. In 1982 The Meteoritical Society honored Robert Clayton with its Leonard Medal.