I am doing a little end zone dance. I've never done one before, so forgive me if it looks more like the chicken dance. Still, here I am, dancing. For Dan Shechtman.
I don't know Dan. Dan lives half way 'round the world. According to the news, in 1982--yes, that's nearly 30 years ago now--Dan discovered quasicrystals. Apparently, this so-called discovery was not well received. Nope. Dan was criticized and shunned by his fellow chemistry nerds. In the course of defending his findings, he was asked to leave. Leave! Take your cockamamie crystals and get out! And take your effin' Yoplait out of the fridge, too! We don't need your kind around here.
[Pause for dramatic effect]
Yesterday, Dan received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his discovery.
BOO-YAH! In your face, people who claim to be researchers but can't wrap your minds around a new concept! HA!!!
Here's to you, Dan Shechtman, and to all the people who have endured pain for daring to think in new and interesting ways.*
* Rest in peace, Steve Jobs.
8 comments:
At church the other week we had a guest who would say, whenever someone greeted him, "Never give up. Never never give up." While I wasn't sure exactly what he meant I appreciated the sentiment.
And now it all makes sense - he was talking about Dan Shectman!
Ummmmm....Okay.
I have no idea what quasicrystals are. I thought at first the reference was to queasycrystals, or those in which the lattice structure is feeling a bit poorly. This is why I did not pursue a career in chemistry. Let's just forget the whole thing.
vw: coness - a female cone.
I look up quasicrystals. They look like a bunch of different types of crystals jambed together. Why would no one believe in them?
Did people criticize his discovery thinking it was a prop from Dark Crystal?
QuasiKrystals are those little square hamburgers you get down south. Sort like QuasiWhiteCastles.
Did somebody win a Nobel Prize for discovery Quasimodo? Talk about having a hunch and going with it...
They did not believe in quasicrystals but did believe in quantum physics? That's pretty much the classic swallowing of camels and straining at gnats, isn't it?
Are they related to Quasimodo?
I think we've established that your end zone dance is better than my 'Hunchback' joke.
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