Editing Cosmochemistry (section)

==History==
In 1938, Swiss mineralogist [[Victor Goldschmidt]] and his colleagues compiled a list of what they called "cosmic abundances" based on their analysis of several terrestrial and meteorite samples.<ref name=Goldschmidt>{{cite book|last=Goldschmidt|first=Victor|title=Geochemische Verteilungsgestze der Elemente IX|date=1938|publisher=Skrifter Utgitt av Det Norske Vidensk. Akad|location=Oslo}}</ref>  Goldschmidt justified the inclusion of meteorite composition data into his table by claiming that terrestrial rocks were subjected to a significant amount of chemical change due to the inherent processes of the Earth and the atmosphere. This meant that studying terrestrial rocks exclusively would not yield an accurate overall picture of the chemical composition of the cosmos. Therefore, Goldschmidt concluded that extraterrestrial material must also be included to produce more accurate and robust data. This research is considered to be the foundation of modern cosmochemistry.<ref name=McSween/>

During the 1950s and 1960s, cosmochemistry became more accepted as a science. [[Harold Urey]], widely considered to be one of the fathers of cosmochemistry,<ref name=McSween/> engaged in research that eventually led to an understanding of the origin of the elements and the chemical abundance of stars. In 1956, Urey and his colleague, German scientist [[Hans Suess]], published the first table of cosmic abundances to include isotopes based on meteorite analysis.<ref name=Suess>{{cite journal|last=Suess|first=Hans|author2=Urey, Harold|title=Abundances of the Elements|journal=Reviews of Modern Physics|date=1956|volume=28|issue=1|pages=53–74|bibcode = 1956RvMP...28...53S |doi = 10.1103/RevModPhys.28.53 }}</ref>

The continued refinement of analytical instrumentation throughout the 1960s, especially that of [[mass spectrometry]], allowed cosmochemists to perform detailed analyses of the isotopic abundances of elements within meteorites. in 1960, [[John Reynolds (physicist)|John Reynolds]] determined, through the analysis of short-lived nuclides within meteorites, that the elements of the Solar System were formed before the Solar System itself<ref name=Reynolds>{{cite journal|last=Reynolds|first=John|title=Isotopic Composition of Primordial Xenon|journal=Physical Review Letters|date=April 1960|volume=4|issue=7|pages=351–354|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.4.351|bibcode = 1960PhRvL...4..351R }}</ref> which began to establish a timeline of the processes of the early Solar System.