I have a hunch that Group Theory discovered/predicted crystal lattices being the form of solid matter through point/space groups before we could inspect them indirectly with X-Ray Diffraction and directly with Electron Microscopy (and even Atomic Force Microscopy).
I guess I have to look into the history of atoms. And also molecules, though I’m not sure if crystals were part of these debates. It is also important to distinguish when history defines a molecule/crystal with respect to understanding protons/neutrons/electrons and quantum phenomena.
It seems that the history of crystallography is firmly delineated by 1912 - the invention of XRD.
- Histories of Crystallography by Shafranovskii and Schuh
- Schuh’s Mineralogy and Crystallography: An Annotated Biobibliography of Books Published 1469 to 1919. Tucson, 2007. Vol 1
- Schuh’s Mineralogy & Crystallography: On the History of these Sciences through 1919
- Schuh’s Annotated Bio-Bibliography of Mineralogy (and obituary)
- H. S. M. Coxeter - Crystal Symmetry and Its Generalizations (Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada 1957 Volume 51 Section III, Presidential Address)
- Wikipedia:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_atomic_theory
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_molecular_theory
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_crystallography
- 1781: Abbé René Just Haüy started crystallography research
- 1826: Moritz Frankenheim derived 32 crystal classes
- 1830: Johann Hessel published point groups
- 1891: Fedorov and Schoenflies derived 230 space groups
- 1914: XRD Noble Prize
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mineralogy
- Molcanov & Stilinovic - Chemical Crystallography before X-ray Diffraction (Angewandte, 2013)
- https://www.pmf.unizg.hr/_download/repository/04_Molcanov_Kristalografija.pdf
- 1550 Cardano: quartz crystals result from close packing of spheircal particls
- “Although the shape of crystals was a good argument in favor of the atomistic theory, and the atomistic theory also proved to be a good basis for crystallographic considerations, the opposition to atomism persisted. This is not to be confused with stubbornness or lack of knowledge but rather to the scientific rigor—just because a theory is useful, it is not necessarily correct. The final experimental proof of the atomic nature of matter was not given until the discovery of radioactivity, Einstein’s explanation of Brownian motion (experimentally confirmed by Perrin), and the diffraction of X-rays by crystals, which all confirmed the discrete nature of matter”
- Giovanni Ferraris - Early contributions of crystallography to the atomic theory of matter (Substantia, 2019)
- D M Nicholas - Crystallography and atomic structure (historical) (Physics Education Vol 11 Num 6, 1976)
- https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0031-9120/11/6/006/meta
- “There is, however, a parallel path which has its origins in the study of crystals, which began in the 17th century. These two lines of development were finally united in 1912 […]”
- 1825: William Miller - copper engravings of crystal structures
