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

In an intriguing blend of science and international adventure, Steinhardt (Endless Universe, coauthor), a Princeton professor of physics and astrophysics, takes readers on a wild ride in search of a new kind of matter. The author’s hunt for a rare crystal structure once thought impossible begins in the early 1980s, when he proposed the existence of “quasicrystals” with a unique property called “five-fold symmetry.” Months of making paper models and Styrofoam-and-pipe cleaner “arts-and-craft” projects showed how minerals might form such crystals, and despite scoffing from luminaries such as Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, one scientist managed to grow a quasicrystal in 1987. But could quasicrystals exist in nature? The quest takes Steinhardt from Princeton University to Florence, Italy, and ultimately to a remote mountain range in the rugged, bear- and mosquito-infested wilds of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. The author’s opening discussion of crystallography basics, “cubatic matter,” and Penrose tiling demands close attention, but the second half of the book is full of intrigue and adventure, culminating with the epic Kamchatka journey. As a result, a general audience can and should enjoy this original, suspenseful true-life thriller of science investigation and discovery. [em]Agent: Katinka Matson, Brockman. (Jan.) [/em]