Nature’s Building Blocks —René Just Haüy

Nineteen models of crystal forms early 19th century. Science Museum Group Collection Online. https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co12963.

René Just Haüy studied the structure of crystals in search of order underlying the complexity of nature. The mineral calcite takes on many different crystalline forms in nature. Haüy discovered that each of these forms can be constructed from the basic building blocks that have the form of a rhomboid. This insight led Haüy to undertake a systematic search for the a set of elemental forms and rules of assembly that could account for all the complex crystalline forms observed in nature.

René Just Haüy, priest and scientist, is one of the 72 scientists and engineers named on the Eiffel Tower.

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