ABSTRACT
During “breaks” in the writing about scars, I became interested in the processes through which meteor impact craters were discovered on Earth, and pondered whether, and how, they might provide a bit of imperfect inspiration to begin to grapple with scars in global politics. Somewhat surprisingly, such impact craters are a relatively recent discovery. It wasn't until the 1900s, stretching into the late 1920s, that individuals such as Robert Barringer developed an approach that would come to be known as “impact theory,” and even then such pioneers were met with skepticism from the scientific community. Why did it take so long for astronomers to discover the true origins of impact craters on Earth, and those found on the moon?
