In Peques and Más we bring an interview with Emilio Gilabert, a collector and expert in Spanish meteorites that is part of the IMCA, International Association of Meteorite Collectors that has 361 registered users worldwide. Emilio carries out a dissemination work so that children from 1 to 100 years are interested in terrestrial or extraterrestrial nature. It has a fascinating collection of shells, fossils and meteorites. His interest is focused on malacology, which are the shells of mollusks, especially those of sailors, paleontology in general, especially invertebrates, and geology, which along with the previous one led him to know and specialize in meteorites.
How did you get the fondness for the meteorite collection
About 35 years ago I started collecting seashells collected on the beaches I visited on vacation along with those acquired as souvenirs in stores. 20 years ago I began to systematize them as a collection through classification, geographic location, gender and species systematics. In this way the malacology began to cover the free time as a relaxation of my work. I contacted professional malacologists and traders to acquire better specimens.
I am fascinated by the beauty of shell mollusks because this beauty persists and even improves once dead, the natural beauty is undoubtedly in both colorful and shaped structure of mollusk shells. This beauty of evolved form and natural structure, made me start to be interested in mollusc fossils, especially cephalopods and specifically nautilus and ammonites. Documenting me in bibliographies, photos, museum exhibitions, etc. I discovered much more interesting forms than the current ones, the Cretaceous heteromorphs with anomalies in the spiraling of the shell, whose fossils are of an impressive beauty due to their shape.
All this interest in these extinct beings that evolution has not given them an opportunity to be among us today, made me wonder why these forms so sophisticated in the shell structure of a mollusk as an evolutionary vertex in specialization, He did not suppose that these beings, according to Darwinist theory of species selection, were not among us today, as were many other extinct life forms that we only know from the fossil record.
What have you specialized in this evolution of the hobby
These questions made me introduce myself to deep paleontology, taphology and impact geology as a mere curiosity, and at that time I was curious about the tectites or impact crystals whose theories of their origin fascinated me.
After reading treaties on geology and impact astrogeology by authors such as Gerald Joseph Home McCall, Ivan V. Nemchinov, Gerrit Verschuur and many more, it seems that the answer to why fossil animals are not among us today began to emerge .
mass extinctions, global or regional, that occurred on our planet were always associated with the impact of a cosmic object our planet.
In this way around 2005 I started to acquire some meteorite, metal, stone, etc. copies at fairs. that together with the copies of tectites that I already had, so I decided to start a small collection of copies of less than 500 grams. Several months after starting this new collection task, I was not satisfied with the results obtained since the collection was of fragments without content, just as a curiosity.
At the end of 2005, by chance and mediation of a friend, I contacted fossil seekers of the Jurassic of Mihailov along the Volga river route in Russia. Curiously, these fossil seekers were “hunters of meteorites” (meterite hunters) as they are called, from all Russian regions, Egypt, Libya and northern Europe. They were the pioneers in finding irghizites (tectites) in the Zhamanshin crater in Kazakhstan, as well as the famous Libyan desert glass of Libya. We contacted in a friendly and cordial way and quickly they were interested in several elements of my fossil collection, so we started exchanging copies between which I received some impressive meteorite. The same thing happened to me with "hunters" from Australia (Johan Japas), in the United States John Humphries, Gary Fujihara and a long list today.
You know the meteorite hunters that exist in the world
I know practically all recognized meteorite search engines in the world, almost all meteor and tectite traders around the world, cordially and in many cases affective. I am in permanent contact with them through the internet and periodically I try to see them at Fairs, Mineralogical Meetings, or having coffee at the airport cafeteria on a plane transfer. In 2007 I took part in my first experience in visiting an impact zone in Sikhote Alin, Russia.
In 2008/2009, I contacted Tom Phillips, an American scientist who is in charge of the petrographic studies of meteorite chondrites using photographs with thin polarized light. Thus I enriched my knowledge about petrography and meteorological isotopy, sharing first-hand their works and study pieces (Tom Phillips has a website and also publishes in the Meteorite magazine).
What dissemination work you are doing and where you can see your works
In December 2010, I made the exhibition of part of my collection on the occasion of EXPONATURA 2010 Fall edition, with great success and with a lot of presence of curious. Also in 2010, I maintained a close exchange of information relationship with Donald Stimson, director and owner of the Brenham Meteorite Kansas Museum in the United States of America.
During 2011 I had a close collaboration with the second director of the Museum of Science and Space, Sergey Afanasiev and his direct field collaborator Dimitry Sadilenko, with whom I shared incredible moments in his company, especially at the Tucson Mineral Show in February 2012 in Arizona. Also with Sergey Petukov, first director of the Museum of Science and Space in Moscow, together with my friends mentioned above, they provided me with graphic documentation (photos and reports) of their meteorite search expeditions in Russia, as supporting photographic documents for My exhibitions
In 2011, I made the exhibition of the human part of my collection in EXPONATURA 2011 December edition, exceeding all expectations of both the general public and institutional. Now I am in the process of setting up an exhibition at the Museum of Natural Sciences for this year 2012.
How do you organize meteor hunters
In 2011, I joined the I.M.C.A. (INTERNATIONAL METEORITE COLLECTOR ASSOCIATION) thanks to the recommendation of two of its members for my honesty and reciprocal seriousness in traffic and exchange for and with partners. Emilio clarifies that he is not a seller and that he is only a collector.
Where can we find Emilio doing outreach work
From time to time I make a talk at the SEK Institution, in which I try to arouse the curiosity of what I hope are the revisionist scientists of the theories and hypotheses that I tell them. With this I only try to disseminate a knowledge of geological-paleontological-astronomical relationship, curiosity and love for Nature in all its forms, both terrestrial and extraterrestrial. In conclusion, I try to convey my curiosity about Nature to any person, child or adult, because the Meteorites do not leave anyone indifferent.
We thank Emilio for his words and for his generosity by telling us so much information. I think One of Emilio's lessons is that children's hobbies when they are young deserve our respect and admiration because you never know how they can end. In addition, in the event that your hobby is perceived as serious and lasting, it is advisable to check who are also amateurs and weave contact networks between them. In addition, if the hobby is related to nature, with history and with our own evolution, the hobby can become passion as Emilio transmits us.
You can find a lot of information on the IMCA page where you can see that there are at least, when I write this, four Spaniards, with Emilio included, who are already part of this association.
