Experimentelle und Analytische Planetologie
The 66th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society in Münster
The 66th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society was held in the Schloß in Münster
from July 28th to August 1st 2003. Despite earlier concerns that the political situation in
the Middle East or the SARS epidemic or even both, would have detrimental effects on the attendance,
Münster attracted some 385 registrants, including 58 guests. They came from 26 countries with the US (28%)
and certainly Germany (25%), having the largest shares. Almost all participants
stayed at one of the many hotels within walking distance of the Schloß. However, 38 participants did rent a
bike, the highly popular means of transport in Münster that is devoid of mountains. Some bikers even
arranged for their private bike tours to Münster's pleasant surroundings.
Belying the popular allegation that
Münster is the rain capital, we enjoyed unusually warm and sunny weather without rain, (the few drops on
Wednesday were no real rain). Thus, Münster presented itself in the nicest possible manner with long mellow
evenings in its many wine and beer gardens, restaurants and student clubs. In addition, Münster was very
lively due to the 46,000 students who - unforeseeable by the organisers - had their last semester week with exams
during the meeting week, and enjoyed themselves in the city till late in the night. For the same reason, instead of
being an almost empty administrative building, the Schloß was its customary hive of student activities.
However, this cohabitation had no conflicting effects, at last to the best of my knowledge, none that was recognised
by the participants.
The format of the meeting was a
bit unusual in that the week was divided into two portions by the full day excursions that took place on Wednesday.
Otherwise we had the two standard simultaneous sessions and the display of posters for almost the full week in the
foyer and the hallway of the Schloß. We had (as is customary) some 200 oral presentations and about 100
posters. More than three fourths of the speakers utilised PowerPoint-based presentations. There was absolutely no
problem with these because the speakers all precisely followed the simple instructions given in the third circular.
The meeting started on Sunday
with registration and a welcome reception. On Tuesday we had the 'formal' poster session with a poster party. In the
course of the latter, the participants and guests extensively tested ten typical German beverages - the possible
extraterrestrial nature of some had been discovered by a thorough TOF-SIMS study beforehand. The Wednesday
excursion to the Ruhr area attracted only about half of the confrere, while others used the day for work, private
discussions, visits to the Institut für Planetologie, or for their own trips, e.g. to Amsterdam's museums - and
possibly coffee shops. On
Thursday the Annual Banquette took place in a marquee erected in a meadow near the Schloß. It began with a
typical local aperitif, followed by rather local food, and wine from (the distant) Heidelberg, and was
apparently a success - at least judging by the fact that it didn't end till four o'clock on Friday morning. Prior
to the banquette, the spirited award ceremony session in the Schloß Aula honoured Herbert Palme, the late
Graham Ryder, and Steven Desch. Rainer Albertz, professor of The Old Testament in Münster, presented the
Barringer lecture on The Weal and Woe of Civilisation: A Modern Message of Ancient Near Eastern Culture.
The musical interludes sounded somewhat enigmatic due to an unexpectedly miss-tuned grand piano. An
aesthetic highlight though was the exhibition of paintings based on Interplanetary Dust Particles, by two German
artists, Trash/Treasure, in the University Library. This was also the location of the travel awardees reception on
Monday. The meeting ended on Friday at about 8 p.m. after a farewell reception. On Saturday morning, 34
participants took off for the four-day Nördlinger Ries excursion.
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