Citation

Kahr B. Crystal Growth and Design 2011; 11(1): 4-11.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, American Chemical Society)

DOI

10.1021/cg101301y

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Johannes Kepler and Thomas Harriot are recognized as the authors of the close-packing conjecture, the intuitive notion that there is no denser ensemble of congruent spheres than face-centered cubic packing. They are bound not only by the close-packing conjecture, arguably the first principle of the science of crystal structure determination, but also by notorious accusations of murder. In 1971, the eminent historian Samuel Eliot Morison alleged that Harriot beheaded Wingina, an Algonquian chieftain, and in a popular biography in 2004, Kepler was accused of poisoning his mentor, the astronomer Tycho Brahe. Herein, the charges are evaluated on behalf of the progenitors of the science of structural crystallography. 2010 American Chemical Society.