Space Group - History

History

Space groups in 2 dimensions are the 17 wallpaper groups which have been known for several centuries.

In 1879 Leonhard Sohncke listed the 65 space groups (sometimes called Sohncke space groups or chiral space groups) whose elements preserve the orientation. (In fact he listed 66 groups, but as Fyodorov and Schönflies both noticed two of them were really the same.) The space groups in 3 dimensions were first enumerated by Fyodorov (1891) (whose list had 2 omissions and one duplication), and shortly afterwards were independently enumerated by Schönflies (1891) (whose list had 4 omissions and one duplication). The correct list of 230 space groups was found by 1892 during correspondence between Fyodorov and Schönflies. Barlow (1894) later enumerated the groups with a different method, but managed to omit one group even though he already had the correct list of 230 groups from Fyodorov and Schönflies; the common claim that Barlow was unaware of their work is a myth. Burckhardt (1967) describes the history of the discovery of the space groups in detail.

Read more about this topic:  Space Group

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.
    Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)

    The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.
    Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)

    Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.
    William Faulkner (1897–1962)