On a dark, clear night we can occasionally see shooting stars silently erupt across the sky. These are tiny grains of dust that burn up in the atmosphere. Occasionally larger rocks will survive the fiery passage through the atmosphere and can be found on the ground as meteorites. These rocks are left-over material from the formation of the planetary system, and are highly sought-after by scientists, who can learn about the birth of our Earth. Every day the Earth is pelted with 50 tons of such interplanetary flotsam. Dr Reipurth will recount his searches for meteorites on the icecap of Greenland, in the highlands of Brazil, and across the deserts of Chile, and will discuss what we have learned from the study of meteorites.