Barron to Speak on Raising the Copper Boulder
HOUGHTON--Robert J. Barron,
who discovered the famous copper boulder on the floor of Lake Superior,
will give a talk, "Raising the Copper Boulder," on Saturday,
April 13, at 8 p.m. in Room 642 of the Dow Environmental Sciences and
Engineering Building at Michigan Technological University. A reception will precede his
lecture at 7 p.m. in the Seaman Mineral Museum, located in the Electrical
Energy Resource Center on campus. Barron will supply several door prizes
related to the lecture. Barron discovered the 17-ton
copper boulder off the western shores of the Keweenaw Peninsula almost
10 years ago. Last summer, he coordinated an effort in which the Army
Corps of Engineers hoisted the monster mineralogical specimen out of its
watery home and brought it to the Quincy Mine Hoist for public display.
Plans are for the specimen, which is 19 feet long, 8 feet wide and averages
18 inches thick, to be a centerpiece for the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum
when it relocates to the Quincy Mine complex in the future. Barron has been an avid mineral
collector and scuba diver for 27 years. He is currently the facilities
manager of Michigan Tech's geological engineering and sciences Department
and the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum. He graduated in 1979 from Michigan
Tech with a BS degree in Biological Science. The reception and lecture are
free and open to the public. The events are sponsored by the Seaman Mineral
Museum Society and the A. E. Seaman Mineral Museum. 4/8/02--MTN027
