Diffraction
Diffraction is the bending and spreading of waves, such as light or sound, as they encounter obstacles or pass through narrow openings, leading to interference patterns that reveal wave properties. This phenomenon is essential in modern physics for applications like imaging and signal processing, where it helps scientists manipulate waves to uncover hidden structures at the atomic level.
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Diffraction played a pivotal role in the 1912 discovery of X-ray crystallography by Max von Laue, which earned him a Nobel Prize and enabled the mapping of over 150,000 protein structures to date, including the COVID-19 spike protein in 2020. This technique has revolutionized fields from medicine to materials science, allowing us to visualize molecules that are smaller than a human hair's width.
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