"Nevozmozhnost' vtorogo roda" – eto zahvatyvayushchaya istoriya o tom, kak Pol Steynhardt, fizik i professor Prinstonskogo universiteta, predskazal novyy tip materii – kvazikristall, – i tem samym poshatnul vekovye predstavleniya o zakonah fiziki.Issledovanie i poisk etoy redkoy kristallicheskoy struktury nachalos' v nachale 1980-h godov, kogda Steynhardt vpervye predpolozhil sushchestvovanie "kvazikristallov". Izuchaya abstraktnye ornamenty, Steynhardt i ego aspirant obnaruzhili lazeyku v odnom iz samyh ustoyavshihsya zakonov fiziki i, ispol'zuya ee, ponyali, chto sushchestvuet vozmozhnost' sozdaniya novyh form materii.Stremyas' dokazat' sushchestvovanie kvazikristallov v prirode, Steynhardt otpravlyaetsya v krugosvetnoe nauchnoe puteshestvie ot Prinstona do Italii i dalekih gor Kamchatki, brosaya vyzov skeptikam i razrushaya ih predstavleniya o nevozmozhnom.
