L'Aigle (meteorite)
Encyclopedia
History
In the early afternoon of 26 April 1803 a meteoriteMeteorite
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...
shower of more than 3000 fragments fell upon the town of L'Aigle in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
). Upon hearing of this event the French Academy of Sciences sent the young scientist Jean-Baptiste Biot
Jean-Baptiste Biot
Jean-Baptiste Biot was a French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who established the reality of meteorites, made an early balloon flight, and studied the polarization of light.- Biography :...
, to investigate that spectacular fall of stones. After painstaking work in the field he reported two kinds of evidence pointing to an extraterrestrial origin for the stones:
- Physical evidence: the sudden appearance of many identical stones similar to other stones fallen from the sky in other places
- Moral evidence: a large number of witnesses who saw a "rain of stones thrown by the meteor"
Biot's passionate paper describing how these stones must undoubtedly be of extraterrestrial origin effectively gave birth to the science of meteoritics.
The L'Aigle event was a real milestone in the understanding of 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...
s and their origins because at that time the mere existence of meteorites was harshly debated, if they were recognised their origin was controversial, with most commentators agreeing with Aristotle that they were terrestrial, and witnessed meteorite falls were treated with great skepticism. The meteorite has since been stored along with Angers
Angers (meteorite)
Angers is an L6 meteorite that hit Pays de la Loire, France in 1822. The meteor struck at 8:15 PM on June 3rd. It has since been stored along with L'Aigle, another meteorite that struck France 19 years prior, in a room at the Muséum d’histoire naturelle d’Angers, a French natural history museum....
, another meteorite that struck France 19 years later, in a room at the Muséum d’histoire naturelle d’Angers
Muséum d’histoire naturelle d’Angers
Muséum d’histoire naturelle d’Angers is a French natural history museum in the Hôtel Demarie-Valentin, in Angers. It contains 100,000 specimens and documents, including 2,500 birds, 20,000 molluscs, and 50,000 fossils...
, a French natural history museum.