1961-1969: Getting down to business

The Advisory Board also emphasized the directive from NSF that the collection be "available primarily for purposes of scientific research by qualified scientists throughout the History of the Centerquot;. In the formative years of the Center, Moore (Figure 2) acted on this direction in a number of ways. The Center began loaning collection specimens to qualified scientists for study and even secured a NASA grant to keep the loan service free of charge. Moore also brought a steady stream of world-renowned meteorite scientists to the Center to work with the collection. Hugo Birger Wiik of the University of Helsinki continued his exhaustive documentation of meteorite compositions during his two year appointment as visiting faculty at ASU. Wiik also introduced the phrase "the only good meteorite is a cutted meteorite" into the Center lexicon. Vagn F. Buchwald, a metallurgist and leading expert on iron meteorites also joined the Center as visiting faculty. His work at ASU led to the publication of his definitive work "Handbook of Iron Meteorites" which remains a fundamental reference for meteorite scientists. Moore himself increased the visibility of the Center by serving as Editor of Meteoritics, the fledgling journal of The Meteoritical Society, and arranging for ASU to publish the journal. The relationship between ASU and Meteoritics continued for twenty years. Additionally, in 1964, ASU hosted the 27th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting.