science · 03 July 1790 · 234 years ago
death
Died 3 Jul 1790 at age 53 (born 26 Aug 1736). quotes
French crystallographer who, with his Essai de Cristallographie (1772), confirmed Nicolas Steno’s observation that the angles between corresponding faces of quartz crystals are always the same, although various samples of quartz crystals may differ in appearance. Further, Romé showed that different crystal substances have their own characteristic angles. For example diamond crystals appear with an octahedral form, whereas pyrite crystals are based on the cube. In his first book, he had 100+ descriptions of crystal forms, which he expanded to 450 by 1784. Romé thus formulated the Law of Constancy of Interfacial Angles suggested by Steno in 1669; used it to identify different minerals; and firmly established modern crystallography.
OnThisDay.net