A TOXIN which makes pigs vomit is the surprising key which may have unlocked the century-old mystery of the origins of a Martian meteorite, and the possible identity of the Black student who discovered it – and there’s a crucial connection with Glasgow.
In 1931, a stone in the geological collection of Purdue University in the US was identified as a pristine example of a meteorite – a piece of rock blasted from the surface of Mars millions of years ago which was pulled into the Earth’s atmosphere. But just how and when the meteorite – which came to be known as Lafayette – ended up in Purdue’s collection in Indiana has remained unclear for more than 90 years.
One potential origin story, reported in 1935 by American meteorite collector Harvey Nininger, said that a Black student at Purdue University witnessed it land in a pond where he was fishing. He recovered it from the mud and donated it to the university.
