Harvey H. Nininger is considered by many to be the “Father of American Meteoritics” - the study of meteorites. He was a pioneer and innovator in the field. During his long career, he wrote ten books and 162 articles on meteoritics.

When he began to search for meteorites, he was told by the head curator of geology at the Smithsonian Institution: “Young man, if you live to be 100 and find one meteorite, you will have done well.” Despite this discouragement, by 1941, it was acknowledged that his personal meteorite collection, from 226 meteorite falls, represented one-half of all the meteorites known in the world. He was the Curator of Meteorites at the Denver Museum of Natural History from 1930 to 1943. He established the American Meteorite Laboratory in Denver in 1937.

After moving to Arizona, he established the American Meteorite Museum on famous Route 66, north of Meteor Crater, from 1946 to 1953. When Route 66 was bypassed by the new Interstate Highway, the museum was moved to Sedona’s Main Street where it operated until 1960. The collection was eventually sold to the British Museum of Natural History and to Arizona State University’s Center for Meteorite Studies.

Harvey Nininger passed away in 1986 at the age of 99, shortly after the appearance of Haley’s Comet, which had had been looking forward to see. This biography covers Nininger’s colorful career from his hunt for meteorites from around the world, to his museums, and his many discoveries in the field of meteoritics.