Title: Once Upon a Time in Kamchatka: The Extraordinary Search for Natural Quasicrystals
Abstract: Quasicrystals are exotic solids that exhibit symmetries that were once thought to be impossible for matter. The first known examples were synthesized in the laboratory 30 years ago, but could Nature have beaten us to the punch? This talk will describe the search that took over a dozen years to answer this question, resulting in one of the strangest scientific stories you are ever likely to hear.