Abstract The French national meteorite collection of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) represents one of the richest collections in the world in terms of its historical heritage and scientific value, particularly for samples of observed falls (512). In fact, early meteoritic research was dominated by French 18th and 19th century scientists such as René Just Haüy, Auguste Daubrée, Stanislas Meunier and Alfred Lacroix. They all contributed, along with Jean Orcel and Paul Pellas in the last 80 years, to form this exceptional collection. The fall at L'Aigle in 1803 led to the recognition of the nature of meteorites and the promotion of the science of meteoritics by Jean-Baptiste Biot. The first catalogue of the meteorite collection elaborated by Cordier in 1837 contained 43 specimens. The collection now contains about 3385 specimens representing 1343 distinct meteorites, to which can be added at least 3000 tektites and numerous specimens of impactites, casts, artificial samples and thin sections. France has the greatest number of meteorite falls by surface unit and by number of inhabitants, with 70 distinct meteorite falls recovered. The collection offers a diverse range of meteorites such as those containing rare presolar grains, the famous carbonaceous chondrite Orgueil (fall, 14 May 1864), the first martian meteorite, Chassigny (fall, 3 October 1815) and Ensisheim (fall, 7 November 1492), which is one of the two oldest observed and documented meteorites and the first meteorite to be registered in the catalogue. The MNHN collection represents a resource that is particularly appreciated by the scientific community.

Abstract ‘Stones fell around L'Aigle, July 26th 1803’. Thus ends the results section of the Biot report read in front of the Institut de France, the 29 Messidor an 11 (17 July 1803) after his 9 days trip to L'Aigle, 140 km NW of Paris. At the time of the L'Aigle fall, the mere existence of meteorites was harshly debated. Chladni's book on iron masses had been published in 1794, but his ideas had not yet convinced the savants or the educated laymen of the time. Meteorite falls were anomalous events in the order of things. In this paper, I argue that Biot's report on the visit he made to L'Aigle is a key event in establishing the extraterrestrial origin of meteorites. Biot was able to build the proof outside the laboratory and the library, solving the central problem of the distrust granted to the eyewitnesses of the falls, usually peasants. The reason why Biot was sent to L'Aigle by the Minister of Interior Chaptal was the establishment, in the early 19th century, of a centralized politico-administrative structure whose aim was to know, classify and organize France. While Chaptal was trying to bring every social and economic reality into a new social order, Biot brought back the L'Aigle meteorites, and thereby all meteorites, within the order of things.

Abstract Théodore Monod (1902–2000), of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, was a natural scientist with an extraordinarily wide range of interests and expertise. His early researches were chiefly in marine zoology, which he continued to pursue throughout his career. However, in 1923 he began to work in the Sahara Desert and travelled through it for thousands of kilometres on foot and camel-back collecting samples for the museum and keeping detailed journals of the geology, palaeontology, flora, fauna, prehistoric artefacts, and the customs and cultures of the peoples he met. Monod published nearly 700 technical articles in scientific journals and numerous books for general readers. He won innumerable honours in France and internationally, but only one of his books, few of his articles, and no biographical accounts of Monod's activities have been published in English. This paper focuses on his search for the Fer de Dieu , an iron meteorite said to be 40 metres high and 100 metres long, lying in the desert of Mauritania. He found no trace of it, but the meteorite remains legendary in the history of meteoritics.

Abstract The French geologist, mineralogist and experimental petrologist, Gabriel-Auguste Daubrée (1814–1896) was a leading scientist of his generation, possibly best known today for his application of the experimental method to structural geology. During his tenure of the Chair of Geology at the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, to which he was appointed in 1861, he played a leading role in expanding its meteorite collection, developing a classification system for meteorites (1867), and using both petrological (1863–1868) and mechanical (1876–1879) experiments to gain a greater understanding of their chemical composition and how their physical attributes had arisen. This led him to believe in the ‘cosmic’ importance of peridotites and their hydrated equivalent, ‘serpentine’ (serpentinite), that the Earth might be unusual in having an oxygen-rich atmosphere and oceans, and that planetary bodies probably had a shell-like structure, increasing in density towards a nickeliferous iron core. (His ideas led to Eduard Seuss's SiAl–SiMa–NiFe model of the Earth.) Following the discovery, by the explorer Nils Nordenskiöld in 1870, of ‘native’ irons apparently associated with basalts at Disko Island, West Greenland, Daubrée took part in the subsequent investigation and the vigorous debate concerning their terrestrial or meteoritic origin.