[AdmSmith]

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2011/info_publ_eng_2011.pdf

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2011/sciback_2011.pdf

[ari-freedom]

However, the configuration found in quasicrystals was considered impossible, and Daniel Shechtman had to fight a fierce battle against established science.

yay!

[grey_whiskers]

Thanks, AdmSmith.

*PING*

*PING* to SteelYourFaith for a parallel example of "the science is settled."

[DuncanWaring]

...regular patterns that never repeat themselves.

Am I the only one to whom this phrase does not make sense?

[paudio]

However, the configuration found in quasicrystals was considered impossible, and Daniel Shechtman had to fight a fierce battle against established science

Did he have to fight as hard as current scientists who are skeptical about global warming?

[rbg81]

In quasicrystals, we find the fascinating mosaics of the Arabic world reproduced at the level of atoms

---

Glad he got the award. But...notice that they had to stick the word “Arabic” in there?

[samtheman]

Wow, for once an Israeli got a Nobel prize in science instead of a Palestinian. It’s about time.

[JOHN ADAMS]

So let me see if I understand this:

One guy comes up with an idea, the whole rest of the world tells him he’s wrong and that the thing he says exists doesn’t exist and can’t exist because it’s impossible, and inconsistent with everything everybody “knows.” He’s driven away from the place where he works and has to go off by himself. 27 years later the thing he said existed, and that everybody else said couldn’t possibly exist, is found in nature. Luckily for him he’s still alive when everybody else in the world wakes up and realizes he was right after all.

The moral of the story could only have been clearer if the guy’s first name were Abraham.