Meteorite fall

The German physicist Ernst Chladni, sometimes considered as the father of meteoritics,[7] was the first to publish in modern Western thought (in 1794) the then audacious idea that meteorites are rocks from space.[8] There were already several documented cases, one of the earliest was the Aegospotami meteorite of 467 BC and which became a landmark for 500 years, of which Diogenes of Apollonia said:[9]

With the visible stars revolve stones which are invisible, and for that reason nameless. They often fall on the ground and are extinguished, like the stone star that came down on fire at Aegospotami.

showing that the Greeks had a much earlier idea that meteorites are rocks from space.

Below is a list of 8 confirmed falls pre-1600 AD. However, unlike the Loket (Elbogen) and Ensisheim meteorites, not all are as well-documented.

While most confirmed falls involve masses between less than one kg to several kg, some reach 100 kg or more. A few have fragments that total even more than one metric ton. The six largest falls are listed below and five (except the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteorite) occurred during the 20th century. Presumably, events of such magnitude may happen a few times per century but, especially if it occurred in remote areas, may have gone unreported.

For comparison, the largest finds are the 60-ton Hoba meteorite, a 30.8-ton fragment (Gancedo) and a 28.8-ton fragment (El Chaco) of the Campo del Cielo, and a 30.9-ton fragment (Ahnighito) of the Cape York meteorite.

These 14 have been found in 2010 and after. Since in the modern period around half a dozen falls are normally found each year, the table needs some updating.

On 18 August 1907 multiple newspapers[23] reported that a meteor fall had occurred in Amaganzett, Long Island.

These have all been found between 1610–2010 and arranged alphabetically (mostly).