that don't act like people thought they should:
Shechtman, 70, from Israel's Technion institute in Haifa, was working in the United States in 1982 when he observed atoms in a crystal he had made form a five-sided pattern that did not repeat itself, defying received wisdom that they must create repetitious patterns, like triangles, squares or hexagons.
Wow. New stuff, amazing stuff. Except
"People just laughed at me," Shechtman recalled in an interview this year with Israeli newspaper Haaretz, noting how Linus Pauling, a colossus of science and double Nobel laureate, mounted a frightening "crusade" against him, saying: "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists."
After telling Shechtman to go back and read the textbook, the head of his research group asked him to leave for "bringing disgrace" on the team. "I felt rejected," Shechtman remembered.
Well, the good doctor will have a Nobel Prize to set on his desk. And he's handling this a bit better than I might; there'd be strong temptation to cut a "I don't have to go back to the book, I'm REWRITING it you bastards" video after the way he was treated.
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