John Schutt
The ANSMET mountaineer who, with Ian Whillans, found the first meteorite recognised as coming from the Moon, in January 1982.
Key facts
- Nationality
- American
- Field
- Mountaineer and field guide
John Schutt is a mountaineer who has guided meteorite search teams in Antarctica for decades. As field safety leader for ANSMET, the Antarctic Search for Meteorites, he has led many seasons on the ice, keeping scientists safe among crevasses, storms and temperatures far below freezing.
On 17 January 1982, in the Allan Hills of Victoria Land, Schutt and the glaciologist Ian Whillans came across a small, greenish-brown stone of only 31 grams. Something about it looked unusual. Once it reached the laboratory, scientists found that it was a breccia made of pale fragments rich in the mineral plagioclase feldspar, unlike any meteorite known before.
Brian Mason at the Smithsonian noticed that it closely resembled rocks from the lunar highlands brought back by the Apollo astronauts. In 1983, measurements of its chemistry and oxygen isotopes confirmed that it was a piece of the Moon, blasted off by an impact and delivered to Earth. It is known as Allan Hills A81005.
The discovery was a turning point. It proved that impacts can throw rocks from one world to another without melting them, which made it far easier to accept that some meteorites come from Mars. Hundreds of lunar meteorites are now known.
On the timeline
- 18 January 1982The first meteorite recognised from the Moon
See more
The Allan Hills 81005 meteorite