Falls (20th century)

20th CENTURY FALLS:

CRUMLIN Fell 13th Septmber, 1902 @ 1030 hrs County Antrim, N Ireland TKW 4255g Sample: 0.75g

L4 ordinary chondrite

N Ireland 1902

Mount Pelée erupts in Martinique, killing 30,000 people.  Founding of the Carnegie Institution and the London School of Economics.

BATH FURNACE Fell 15th November, 1902 @ 1845 hrs Kentucky, USA TKW 86kg Sample: 0.71g

L6 ordinary chondrite

USA 1902

(as above)

SHELBURNE Fell 13th August, 1904 @ 2000 hrs Ontario, Canada TKW 18.6kg Sample: 0.05g

L5 ordinary chondrite

Canada 1904

First New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, New York.  The Great Toronto Fire destroys most of downtown Toronto, but kills no-one.

VIGARANO Fell 22 January, 1910 @ 2130 hrs Emilia-Romagna, Italy TKW 15kg Sample: 0.41g

CV4 carbonaceous chondrite

Italy 1910

Spectacular apparition of Halley’s Comet leads to media tales of cyanide poisoning from the comet’s tail; comet kills no-one.  Mark Twain, who had been born during the 1835 apparition, wrote in his autobiography that “I came in with Halley’s Comet… and I expect to go out with it”.  He did.

NAKHLA Fell 28th June, 1911 @ 0900 hrs Abu Hommos, Egypt TKW 10kg Sample: 0.02g

Martian nakhlite

Egypt 1911

Roald Amunsden reaches the South Pole.  Ernest Rutherford discovers the atomic nucleus through scattering experiments. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.

HOLBROOK Fell 19th July, 1912 @ 1915 hrs Arizona, USA TKW 220kg Sample: 1.3g

L6 ordinary chondrite

USA 1912

Sinking of the RMS Titanic, with the loss of 1,494 lives.  Founding of the Royal Flying Corps (predecessor to the RAF) in UK.  Presentation of Piltdown Man – an elaborate hoax which took 40 years to unravel.

MEESTER-CORNELIS Fell 2nd June, 1915 @ 0600 hrs West Java, Indonesia TKW 24.75kg Sample: 0.04g

H5 ordinary chondrite

Indonesia 1915

Magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Avezzano, Italy kills 12,000 people.  Foundation of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), predecessor of NASA.  First known pre-discovery image of Pluto. British Army tests world’s first prototype tank.

BOGUSLAVKA Fell 18th October, 1916 @ 1147 hrs Primorsk Region, Russia TKW 256kg Sample: 0.21g

IIA iron hexahedrite

Russia 1916

Easter Rising in Ireland. Invention of the light switch.  UK initiates daylight saving time.  Death of Rasputin.

STRATHMORE Fell 3rd December, 1917 @ 1315 hrs Perthshire, Scotland TKW 13.4kg Sample: 0.39g

L6 ordinary chondrite

Scotland 1917

Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.  USA purchases Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25m. First income tax introduced in Canada as a “temporary measure”. Finland declares independence from Russia. Birth of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

RICHARDTON Fell 30th June, 1918 @ 2200 hrs N Dakota, USA TKW 90kg Sample: 0.11g

H5 ordinary chondrite

USA 1918

Bolsheviks murder Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his famiy in Ekaterinburg. 25 million people die as a result of the Spanish Flu pandemic.

SARATOV Fell 6th Septmber, 1918 @ 1500 hrs Saratov Region, Russia TKW 200kg Sample: 2.1g

L4 ordinary chondrite

Russia 1918

(as above)

CUMBERLAND FALLS Fell 9th April, 1919 @ 1200 hrs Kentucky, USA TKW 17kg Sample: 0.025g

Aubrite achondrite

USA 1919

Foundation of the League of Nations.  Grand Canyon is established as a National Park.  Eruption of Kelut in Java kills 16,000.  Arthur Eddington confirms predictions of General Relativity during total solar eclipse in Principe, off the west coast of Africa.

CHAVES Fell 3rd May, 1925 @ 1200 hrs Traz-os-Montes, Portugal TKW 2945g Sample: 0.05g

Howardite achondrite

Portugal 1925

Butler Act prohibits teaching of evolution in Tennessee.  Magnitude 6.3 earthquake destroys downtown Santa Barbara. Hitler publishes Mein Kampf.

BORISKINO Fell 20th April, 1930 @ 1330 hrs Orenburg Region, Russia TKW 1342g Sample: 0.03g

CM2 carbonaceous chondrite

Russia 1930

Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.  Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 in the first World Cup final.  First Mickey Mouse comic strip.

KAROONDA Fell 25th November, 1930 @ 2253 hrs S Australia, Australia TKW 41.73kg Sample: 0.08g

CK4 carbonaceous chondrite

Australia 1930

(as above).

TATAHOUINE Fell 27th June, 1931 @ [0130 hrs Foum Tatahouine, Tunisia TKW 12kg Sample: 2.5g

Diogenite

Tunisia 1931

The original Dracula moving starring Bela Lugosi is released.  The Empire State Building is completed.  Mao declares the Chinese Soviet Republic.

KAINSAZ Fell 13th September, 1937 @ 1415 hrs Tatarskaya, Russia TKW 200kg Sample: 1.63g

CO3.2 carbonaceous chondritte

Russia 1937

Opening of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Bali Tiger is declared extinct.

PANTAR Fell 16th June 1938 @ 2045 hrs Mindanao, Phillipines TKW 2130g Sample: 0.03g

H5 ordinary chondrite

Phillipines 1938

Hitler annexes the Sudetenland.  Orson Welles’ radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds causes widespread panic across the United States.

NORTON COUNTY Fell 18th February, 1948 @ 1656 hrs Kansas, USA TKW 1,100kg Sample: 0.2g

Aubrite achondrite

USA 1948

Assassination of Gandhi.  Publication of the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow paper, which showed that the Big Bang would create elements hydrogen and helium in proportion to their abundance in the early universe.  Foundation of the modern state of Israel.

NIKOLSKOE Fell 6th March, 1950 @ 1522 hrs Moscow Region, Russia TKW 6kg Sample: 0.4g

L4 ordinary chondrite

Russia 1950

Synthesis of element number 98 – Californium.  Scottish nationalists ‘liberate’ the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey.

MONZE Fell 5th October, 1950 @ 0410 hrs Southern Province, Zambia TKW unknown Sample: 2.2g

L6 ordinary chondrite

Zambia 1950

(as above)

ELENOVKA Fell 17th October, 1951 @ 1630 hrs Donetsk  Region, Ukraine TKW 54.64kg Sample: 0.04g

L5 ordinary chondrite

Ukraine 1951

UN headquarters open in New York. Remington Rand delviers the first UNIVAC 1 computer to the US Census Bureau.

IBITRA Fell 13th June, 1957 @ 1715 hrs Minas Gerais, Brazil TKW 2500g Sample: 0.02g

Monomict eucrite achondrite

Brazil 1957

The Treaty of Rome establishes the European Economic Community.  IBM sells the first compiler for FORTRAN. Founding of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  Jodrell Bank radio telescope opens in Cheshire, UK.

MILLBILLILLIE Fell October, 1960 W Australia, Australia TKW 330kg Sample: 1.0g

Monomict eucrite achondrite

Australia 1960

CERN particle accelerator inaugurated in Geneva. France tests its first atomic bomb. Cameroon, Togo, Mali, Somali Republic, Belgian Congo, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Chad, Central African Republic, Cyprus, Gabon, Senegal, Nigeria and Mauritania all gain independence from their former colonial powers.

DJERMAIA Fell 25th February, 1961 Ndjamena, Chad TKW ~3950g Sample: micro

H chondrite

Chad 1961

JFK becomes 35th Preseident of the United States. Synthesis of element 103, Lawrencium. Alan Shephard becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3.

ZAGAMI Fell 3rd October, 1962 Katsina Province, Nigeria TKW 18kg Sample: 0.02g

Martian basaltic shergottite

Nigeria 1962

Cuban missile crisis. Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro. John Glenn becomes first American to orbit the Earth in Friendship 7. Death of Marylin Monroe.  First use of the term ‘personal computer’ in the media (New York Times).

BARWELL Fell 24th December, 1965 @ 1620 hrs Leicestershire, England TKW 44kg Sample: 2.3g

L5 ordinary chondrite

England 1965

Alexey Leonov leaves Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes to become the first man to walk in space. Mariner 4 flies past Mars, returning the first detailed pictures of the planet. Winston Churchill dies aged 90.  Malcolm X is assassinated in New York.  Bob Dylan ‘goes electric’.