1. The Fall

It is estimated that only 5 tonnes of meteorites, whose mass exceeds 1 kg, fall every year - which amounts to about 5000 meteorites. A meteoroid travelling more than 20 kilometres per hour from outer space is slowed down by the Earth’s atmosphere.

As it heats up - its surface temperature exceeds 1 500°C -, it looses more than 90% of its mass through evaporation, generating a luminous trail, called a meteor, which can be seen from the ground. When the speed of meteoroid diminishes, the luminous phenomenon ends. As it cools, a fusion crust that is several millimetres tick forms on the surface. The object that reaches the ground is then called a meteorite.

French Falls

To this day, 77 meteorite have been identified in France (63 “observed falls” and 13 “finds”).

The Ensisheim meteorite is the oldest listed fall in Europe and the second oldest in the world. Named “the thunderstone of Ensisheim”, the meteorite landed in a wheat field, near the town of Ensisheim, on a Habsbourg-dependent territory, on 7 November 1492. Considered as a divine sign, it was exhibited during almost 300 years in the parish church. This highly publicised event was recounted by many columnists. Indeed, it is the first observed meteorite fall since the invention of printing. Albrecht Dürer, who witnessed the fall, repeatedly portrayed it.

The Caille meteorite (or La Caille) is the largest meteorite ever to have been found in France. It weighs 625 kg. According to the testimony gathered at the time, it comes from the Audibergue massif, in the Alpes Maritimes, a few kilometres away from the village Caille, where it is presumed to have been found in the 17^th century. It was only identified in the beginning of the 19^th century, while it was used as a bench in front of the village church! Since 1829, it has been preserved at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris. 

The last observed fall in France took place in Essonne and dates from 13 July 2011. It is the Draveil meteorite, a fragment of which fell on the roof of… Mrs Comette! This meteorite is the 64^th French fall. The previous one landed in the Drôme in 2002.

For a long time meteorites were regarded as manifestations of the divine, magical stones that were sometimes worshipped. Until the 18^th century, scholars struggled to identify the extraterrestrial origin of these stones, which were often called “lighting stones” or “thunderstones”.

In 1794, the physicist E.F.F. Chladni published a book proposing that these rocks came from outer space. The reception was contrasted.
Several successive falls fueled controversy at European level. The particularly well-documented the L’Aigle fall (France, 1803) ended the controversy. Thunderstones became meteorites.