A way to stress developments in astronomy: Displaying a collection of meteorites Original Research Article

The collection of meteorites of the Natural History Museum, Paris, is considered to be one of the most important in the world. Two opportunities have occurred in the last decades to display this collection to the public, during two temporary exhibitions: the first one, entitled: “Meteorites, Messengers of the Cosmos, and Space Experiments”, dates back to 1969, the second one, entitled “Meteorites!”, was held in 1996. Both exhibitions were the result of a dialogue between a team of scientists, interested in topical astronomical data and of museologists concerned about public education. The authors were in charge of the museological aspects of the exhibition “Meteorites!”. This experience combined with their astronomical and geological training allowed them to analyze the scientific choices determined for each exhibition and the selected themes offered to the public. The comparative study between the two exhibitions (1969–1996) highlighted the new methods to analyze meteorites and the new research areas related to this topic developed during the three decades between these two dates. Differences in the way of dealing with the selected topics in each exhibition led to point out the major advances in knowledge about meteorites, and more generally about the Solar System. In particular, thanks to a more detailed investigation of meteorites, the authors showed how the better understanding of the history of the Solar System had changed the main goals of second exhibition.