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Unexpected Experts

Jon Larsen was working as a jazz musician in Norway when
he began scooping up dirt and dust from rooftops and road-
ways. He sifted through thousands upon thousands of tiny
grains, peering at the most promising specks under a micro-
scope. He was hoping to fi nd a micrometeorite. These tiny
specks fall to Earth from outer space. Professional scientists
thought it would be impossible to fi nd them in cities. The
problem is that they look very similar to dust specks from car
exhaust, pavement, power tools, and other human activities.
But Larsen was determined. In 2015, after six years of dirty,
painstaking work, he found what he was looking for. “I fi -
nally identifi ed one that was different from the rest,” he says.
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Matthew Genge, a meteorite expert at Imperial College Lon-
don, confi rmed that Larsen had indeed found a dust speck
from outer space. “He ended up making a discovery that
professional scientists missed,” Genge says. Now, Larsen
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is a guest researcher at the University of Oslo and has co-
authored scientifi c papers. The space dust he and others
gather will help scientists learn more about the universe.

Leaving a Mark on History
Larsen’s work eventually became part of mainstream sci-
ence. But he started out as an amateur with a hobby. Believe
it or not, he was scooping up and examining dust for fun.
An ordinary person with no scientifi c degree or training who
questions, observes, and records information about animals,
CHAPTER ONE citizen scientist. Some people who start out this way eventu-
plants, insects, rocks, or any other aspect of the world is a

ally gain recognition as mainstream scientists.
For much of human history, there were no universities
offering science degrees. Many early inventors, explorers,

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