Overview

In 1801 René Haüy, a French mineralogist, described one of the first coherent theories of crystal structure, published as the Treatise of Mineralogy. From this start grew the science of crystallography, the study of crystals and their structure, growth, and form. Since that time, the science of crystallography has matured and developed new tools, including x-ray diffraction, to study the crystals from quartz to DNA. Haüy's description included an explanation for many phenomena that had been commented on, but never explained, and allowed crystallography to take its place as an undisputed scientific field rather than a simple description of shapes and forms.

Background

Although depictions of minerals appear...