Oscar Monnig
Oscar E. Monnig (September 4, 1902 – May 4, 1999) was an American amateur astronomer, acknowledged for his contributions to meteoritics.[1]
Private life
Monnig was born in
In 1941 he married Juanita Mickle, who died in 1996. They had no children.[1] Monnig died in the city where he was born on May 4, 1999.[2]
Astronomy
In the 1920s Monnig started to be interested in astronomy. He founded the Texas Observers astronomy club and between 1931 and 1947 he published a monthly newsletter – the Texas Observers Bulletin – writing especially about issues of amateur astronomers' interest, such as
.In the late-1920s, Monnig developed an interest in
Meteoritical collection
In the early-1930s he started his own meteoritical collection. After he failed with his requests to be allowed to study meteorites at the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History, he increased his collecting effort.
He questioned witnesses of meteoroid detonations or bolides and organized and financed searching expeditions. He paid 1 dollar per pound, a price that museums could not match at the time of the Great Depression.[1]
Gradually, his collection grew to be one of the largest private collections in the world: it contained about 3,000 specimens from 400 different meteorites.[2] Probably the most valuable were two carbonaceous chondrites, found at Crescent, Oklahoma, in 1936 and at Bells, Texas, in 1961.[1]
Monnig later decided to donate the collection to Texas Christian University: he made a series of transfers, between 1976 and 1986. Nowadays, the collection contains over 2,500 different meteorites.[3] In 2003, four years after he died, the Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Gallery was opened, exhibiting about 10 per cent of the meteorites to the public.[4]
The numbering system Monnig used to label his collection is a topic of great intrigue, as scientists and meteorite specialists believe that Monnig's collection numbers are an "intriguing, perhaps almost magical...a tangible link with researchers and collectors who have gone before us," as stated by Geoff Notkin.[5] Scientists have concluded that it is likely that Monnig used a similar labeling system as Harvey H. Nininger.[5]
Awards
In 1984, Monnig became the first person to win the Texas Star Party's annual 'Lone Stargazer Award' for his accomplishments as an observer in amateur astronomy
References
- ^ Bibcode:2000BAAS...32.1682W.
- ^ a b c Ehlmann, Arthur J.; Timothy J. McCoy. "A biography of Oscar Monnig". Texas Christian University. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
- ^ "Monnig Meteorite Database". Monnig Meteorite Database. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
- ^ "Welcome to the Oscar E. Monnig Meteorite Gallery". Texas Christian University. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
- ^ a b Mignan, Arnaud (August 2012). "The Monnig Meteorite Collection Numbers Revisited" (PDF). Meteorite: 10–13.
- ^ "Past Amateur Achievement Winners". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Retrieved 2007-08-12.