The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a

The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter

*Shortlisted for the 2019 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize*

One of the most fascinating scientific detective stories of the last fifty years, an exciting quest for a new form of matter. â€œA riveting tale of derring-doâ€ (Nature), this book reads like James Gleickâ€™s Chaos combined with an Indiana Jones adventure.

When leading Princeton physicist Paul Steinhardt began working in the 1980s, scientists thought they knew all the conceivable forms of matter. The Second Kind of Impossible is the story of Steinhardtâ€™s thirty-five-year-long quest to challenge conventional wisdom. It begins with a curious geometric pattern that inspires two theoretical physicists to propose a radically new type of matterâ€”one that raises the possibility of new materials with never before seen properties, but that violates laws set in stone for centuries. Steinhardt dubs this new form of matter â€œquasicrystal.â€ The rest of the scientific community calls it simply impossible.

The Second Kind of Impossible captures Steinhardtâ€™s scientific odyssey as it unfolds over decades, first to prove viability, and then to pursue his wildest conjectureâ€”that nature made quasicrystals long before humans discovered them. Along the way, his team encounters clandestine collectors, corrupt scientists, secret diaries, international smugglers, and KGB agents. Their quest culminates in a daring expedition to a distant corner of the Earth, in pursuit of tiny fragments of a meteorite forged at the birth of the solar system.

Steinhardtâ€™s discoveries chart a new direction in science. They not only change our ideas about patterns and matter, but also reveal new truths about the processes that shaped our solar system. The underlying science is important, simple, and beautifulâ€”and Steinhardtâ€™s firsthand account is â€œpacked with discovery, disappointment, exhilaration, and persistence...This book is a front-row seat to history as it is madeâ€ (Nature).
Country USA
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2019-01-08
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2019-01-08
Format	Kindle eBook

The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter

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