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Quasicrystal discovery—from NBS/NIST to Stockholm

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Abstract

There were ideal conditions in 1982 at the NBS/NIST for the kind of exploratory research that led Dan Shechtman to the quasicrystal discovery. Almost thirty years later, in 2011, Shechtman received the Nobel Prize for this achievement. What happened in between these two dates has been covered quite extensively elsewhere. But it is intriguing to learn more about the very beginning. Then, the festivities in Stockholm added to our seeing the story in a fuller perspective.

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Acknowledgments

One of us (IH) is grateful to William R. Ott, NIST, for a gracious invitation to give a seminar at NIST, and for making thoughtful and generous arrangements for the visit. Both authors thank Dr. Ott and the Chief of the Metallurgy Division of NIST, Frank W. Gayle for hospitality extended to us during our visit. We appreciate Dr. Gayle’s comments on and helpful suggestions for the manuscript and for letting us reproduce his beautiful quasicrystal images in this Editorial.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Saint Francis University, P.O. Box 600, Loretto, PA, 15940-0600, USA

    Balazs Hargittai

  2. Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, P.O. Box 91, 1521, Budapest, Hungary

    Istvan Hargittai

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  1. Balazs Hargittai
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  2. Istvan Hargittai
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Correspondence to Istvan Hargittai.

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Hargittai, B., Hargittai, I. Quasicrystal discovery—from NBS/NIST to Stockholm. Struct Chem 23, 301–306 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11224-012-9953-x

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