Natural Quasicrystals

The transcript details a research journey to find natural quasi crystals, starting with a collaboration between the speaker and an undergraduate student, Pierlou, at Princeton. Despite initial failures, the research continued with Luca Bindi from the Mineralogical Museum in Florence. After years of effort, a quasi crystal was finally discovered in a mineral from Russia, marking a significant breakthrough.

What challenges did the researchers face in obtaining samples of quasi crystals?

What was the significance of the diffraction pattern observed in the electron microscope?