Order in metallic crystals

To most people the beauty and harmony of crystalline form are synonymous with perfection and stability, and their metaphorical usage is indeed widespread. The curious and often skeptical scientists, however, long suspected that a more detailed study of crystals would reveal imperfections of various kinds; and the advent of modern research tools and, in particular, of x‐ray diffraction methods has in fact opened a vast field of study in which changes, reactions, and imperfections in crystals are being investigated. At the same time, to be sure, the very same methods told physicists many of the why’s and how’s of the startling harmony and symmetry of the internal and external structure of crystals.

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