“Non-Conformist Crystallography”
- Authors: Mackay A.L.1
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Affiliations:
- Department of Crystallography, Birkbeck College
- Issue: Vol 43, No 6 (2017)
- Pages: 489-498
- Section: Article
- URL: https://journals.rcsi.science/1087-6596/article/view/216225
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1087659617060074
- ID: 216225
Cite item
Abstract
Now, 25 years or so after the quasi-crystal affair, we can perhaps see the development of crystallography, as it turns into nanotechnology and molecular biology, in a still longer-term perspective as part of the struggle to understand the universe rationally in the face of competing theories and superstitions. We follow changes of paradigm in investigations of the structure of matter and in various dualities, in particular in the dialogue between materials and information. In a small way, the discovery of quasi-crystals exhibits the interactions between the different world representations, Platonic, mental and physical (here labelled P, Q, R) and between conceptions of Laws, Natural, Mathematical, Civil/Military and Divine.
About the authors
Alan L. Mackay
Department of Crystallography, Birkbeck College
Author for correspondence.
Email: alanlmackay@gmail.com
United Kingdom, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX