Find a Falling Star, the Unabridged Autobiography of H.H. Nininger, has been re-assembled and edited by Nininger’s grandson, Jim Banks. Another Nininger grandson, Gary Huss, well-known meteoriticist and Research Professor and Director of the W.M. Keck Cosmochemistry Laboratory at the University of Hawaii, has written the Forward. The additional seven Nininger grandchildren are enthusiastic in…
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Natural History Trek
An unusual endeavor omitted from the published version of “Find a Falling Star” was the “Natural History Trek” led by H.H. Nininger while he was teaching at McPherson College. Almost unheard of at the time, this class provided class credit for outside fieldwork. It also provided Nininger with an opportunity to “learn more about meteorites…
For A Christmas That’s Out Of This World
This was the Christmas greeting from H.H. and Addie Nininger, circa 1960. This was from the time they were operating the American Meteorite Museum in Sedona, Arizona. As Nininger explained on the back of the card, the “Stardust” attached to the card was formed by the cooling of the cloud of metallic vapor produced by…
Christmas Gifts from American Meteorite Museum
H.H. Nininger operated the American Meteorite Museum at two locations in Arizona: on Route 66 near the Arizona Meteorite Crater from 1946-1953; and in Sedona from 1953-1960. The museum’s primary focus was education, but it did sell books and items made from meteorites. Nininger received criticism from some for “commercializing” meteorites, but since he was…
“Nininger Runabout”
“Find a Falling Star” contained a photo titled “Nininger Runabout,” but there was no related text or description in the book. In a rush to get the book to print, the publisher deleted the chapter describing the vehicle and the associated adventures, but the photo remained. The Niningers constructed a home-made house-car and H.H. took…
Cover Illustration – Original Book
Find a Falling Star, as published in 1972, had a cover which featured the book’s title and author on a blue background, superimposed over a black and white illustration of an exploding fireball. The book itself contained no information about the illustration, but in case you were wondering, it is a depiction of a meteorite…
100th Anniversary of McPherson, Kansas, Fireball
At 8:57 p.m. on November 9, 1923, a fireball passed over McPherson, Kansas that changed the life of H.H. Nininger and in many respects, the entire science of meteoritics. As Nininger wrote in an unpublished letter, “On the night of November 9, 1923, at 8:57 p.m., a fireball crossed the horizon in a sweep of…