MaPS Special Issue for John T. Wasson

A special issue of Meteoritics and Planetary Science honoring John T. Wasson, who passed away on 8 September 2020 is planned for fall 2021. Wasson spent more than 50 years as a professor and meteorite researcher at UCLA. He was President of the Meteoritical Society in 1979-1980. He received the Leonard Medal from the Meteoritical Society in 2002 and the J. Lawrence Smith award from the National Academy of Sciences in 2003. The mineral wassonite (TiS) and an asteroid (4783 Wasson) were named in his honor. Manuscripts should be submitted before 28 February 2021 at the MAPS website and will be reviewed following the regular MAPS procedures. Prior notification of submission to Sasha Krot will help to speed up the review process. Articles should be as concise as possible and should not exceed 16 printed pages. The journal assesses a charge of $70 per page for each printed page over this limit. Authors should limit their appreciations of John Wasson to one or two sentences in the acknowledgements. A tribute to John will preface the issue. Sasha Krot, Alan Rubin, and Ed Scott Special issue associate editors More…


John T. Wasson (1934-2020)

John Taylor Wasson, Emeritus Professor in UCLA’s Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, passed away peacefully at his long-time home in Los Angeles on September 8, 2020, at the age of 86. He had suffered a stroke in January, but had courageously battled back, improving in many ways, before his sudden passing. John was passionate about meteorites and what their properties reveal about the formation and early evolution of the Solar System. Over a research career spanning six decades, he left a rich legacy of contributions to meteoritics and planetary science. More…


UCLA Meteorite Gallery Monthly Lectures

The monthly lectures at the UCLA Meteorite Gallery are open to members of the Meteoritical Society. The UCLA Meteorite Gallery Lecture Series will now operate on the third Sunday of every month. More…


IOM Weekly Seminars open to MetSoc Members

Institute of Meteoritics (IOM) at University of New Mexico is holding their weekly seminars every Tuesday by telecon and would like to open these seminars to any member of the society interested in attending. More…


Service Award for 2021

Dr. Christian Koeberl (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, and University of Vienna) is awarded the Service Award for 2021 for his transformative decade-long tenure as Director General of the Naturhistorisches Museum during which the museum was extensively modernized and renovated resulting in a doubling of the number of visitors. He is also recognized for his tireless public outreach activities in meteoritics and impact cratering and impressive societal service contributions. More…


Jessberger Award for 2021

Dr. Maria Schönbächler (ETH Zürich, Switzerland) is the inaugural Jessberger Awardee for 2021. The Jessberger Award is offered by the Meteoritical Society every other year to a mid-career, female isotope geochemist thanks to an endowment from the family of Dr. Elmar K. Jessberger. Dr. Schönbächler is recognized for her contributions to geochronology using the Pd-Ag and Nb-Zr chronometers, and for her contributions to the understanding of nucleosynthetic anomalies in elements like Zr and Pd. More…


Nier Prize for 2021

Dr. Nan Liu (Washington University St. Louis, Missouri, USA) has been selected for the 2021 Nier Prize for her contributions to the field of presolar grains and nucleosynthesis, using a wide range of analytical techniques. More…


Barringer Award for 2021

Dr. Gordon Osinski (Western University, Ontario, Canada) has been selected as the 2021 Barringer Awardee for his prolific studies on impact melt rock and hydrothermal alteration processes in terrestrial craters with a particular focus on understanding melting, ejecta emplacement, and habitability, as well as his work on the “suevite conundrum”. More…


Leonard Medal for 2021

Dr. Katharina Lodders (Washington University St. Louis, USA) has been selected for the 2021 Leonard Medal by the Meteoritical Society for her work on the condensation of presolar grains in stellar atmospheres and her compilation of the Solar System Abundances of the Elements and the condensation temperatures of the elements. More…


Nadine G. Barlow (1958-2020)

Over 18 years at Northern Arizona University, Nadine ascended the academic ranks, becoming Department Chair of Astronomy and Planetary Science. She received numerous awards for teaching excellence. Doubling the size of the Department, she grew its curriculum into a Ph.D.-granting program. More…