No, the picture to the left is not a snapshot of my granny’s wallpaper, it’s what earned someone the highest accolade in chemistry; and the story behind it is anything but pretty.
Unfortunately for Prof Schechtman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry today, his discovery that the world of the crystals that make up matter is not as ordered as previously thought was met with scorn for many years. Friends rejected him and he was humiliated by his peers.
But you don’t have to take my word for it. Here the Nobel Prize winner’s fascinating story in his own words: Jealousy…rejection…and quasicrystals.
The Quiet Maverick 