The Advanced Photon Source
a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility

What’s Music Got to do with X-ray Diffraction?

Harmonic analysis exists in both science and music and is in fact the basis of much science, including x-ray diffraction. The geometric quality of vibrations that make up music are harmonic in time. Similarly, the work of physics, such as at Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source, which examines the structure of life itself, is focused on what is harmonic in space. 

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