What is it about?
This article is an introduction to a series of detailed papers that explore the the increasing role played by quantum science in the study of the fundamental structure of crystalline material.. It begins with the early and sometimes controversial evidence for quantum mechanics, as opposed to well-established classical physics, which emerged a century ago. It then charts its increasing influence on all aspects of the fundamental study of the nature of crystalline material as fostered by the International Union of Crystallography...
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Why is it important?
This publication and the associated detailed papers that follow are timely because this current decade, some would say this specific year 2025, marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of quantum mechanics and the beginning of it supplanting classical ideas as the basis for understanding the behaviour of matter. The study of crystal structure, which underpins the scientific study of the material world, increasingly espouses this quantum approach.
Perspectives
Sixty years ago, as a research student in the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, I was fortunate enough to be involved in an experiment to study the momenta (velocities) of electrons in metallic lithium through a phenomenon called Compton scattering.. Our result clearly confirmed the quantum description on which some doubt had been cast. and it launched me into a fruitful research career. It may have begun by using conventional laboratory x-ray sources but it was transformed 10-20 years later by the use of potent synchrotron radiation sources which became available worldwide..
Malcolm Cooper
University of Warwick
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Quantum Crystallography: the 100-year revolution, IUCrJ, October 2025, International Union of Crystallography,
DOI: 10.1107/s2052252524007164.
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