Yale Peabody Museum

Home of the largest surviving stone of Weston, the first meteorite fall in the United States to be studied scientifically.

Key facts

Where

New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Kind

Museum

Visiting

Public galleries

On the morning of 14 December 1807, a fireball crossed Connecticut and a shower of stones fell around the town of Weston. Two professors from Yale College, the chemist Benjamin Silliman and James Kingsley, hurried to the site, interviewed witnesses and analysed the stones. Their report was the first scientific account of a meteorite fall in the United States.

A large stone from the Weston fall is kept at the Yale Peabody Museum, one of the oldest university natural history museums in America, along with a broader meteorite collection used in research. Weston is an H4 ordinary chondrite. The story is often told that President Thomas Jefferson doubted the report, though his actual words are uncertain.

Highlights

• Weston first scientifically studied US fall H4

Related pages

Opening times, what is on display and access to research collections change over time, so check with the institution before you visit.