FELL TO EARTH IN YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND, 1795; MODERN CUTTING

This meteorite, a chondrite, that fell in Yorkshire, England on 13 December 1795 is of great historical importance. The scientific community in the late 18th and early 19th Century was sceptical that rocks could fall from the sky, but three events helped them change their minds: The first was a treatise by German physicist Ernst Chladni proposing that fireballs are associated with meteorite falls; the second was a set of analyses by English chemist Edward Howard showing that purported meteorites had similar compositions and contained the rare element nickel; and the third was a list of reports of several widely witnessed and well-documented falls including that of Wold Cottage. Three eyewitnesses in Yorkshire had heard an explosion overhead and saw the 25-kg mass emerge from the clouds and strike the ground. A local magistrate obtained sworn accounts from others who heard the rock’s passage through the air or observed the fireball. Wold Cottage is also one of only four meteorites in which the iron sulfide troilite (FeS), ubiquitous in meteorites, but virtually unknown on Earth, was first described in 1802 (by French Mineralogist Jacques-Louis, Comte de Bournon).

Click here to learn more about the science and history of meteorites.