Well attestedNamed from the place
australite
noun · first attested 1900
NASA studied the aerodynamic shape of these glass buttons when designing Apollo re-entry capsules.
A tektite found in Australia, typically dark glass in disc, bowl or flanged-button shapes.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1900
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Australia
- In English
australite
Franz Eduard Suess coined the word tektite in 1900 and treated the Australian glasses as a distinct geographic class. Australites are unusual among tektites for their flanged buttons, rims melted and swept back as the glass re-entered the atmosphere at high speed. In the 1960s that shape became a working model for blunt-body re-entry design.
Australia
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