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There were ideal conditions in 1982 at the NBS/NIST for the kind of exploratory research that led Dan Shechtman to the quasicrystal discovery. Almost thirty years later, in 2011, Shechtman received the Nobel Prize for this achievement. What happened in between these two dates has been covered quite extensively elsewhere. But it is intriguing to learn more about the very beginning. Then, the festivities in Stockholm added to our seeing the story in a fuller perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

9 August 2007, the US Congress established the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) through the America COMPETES Act, a comprehensive strategy to keep the United States, the most innovative nation in the world, competitive by strengthening scientific education and research, improving technological enterprise, attracting the world's best and brightest workers, and providing twenty-first century job training. The new program, TIP, is located at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD (www.nist.gov\tip). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]