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Quantum science and crystal structure: a hundred year revolution.
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...
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.