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Science 8 September 2000:
Vol. 289. no. 5485, pp. 1702 - 1703
DOI: 10.1126/science.289.5485.1702
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Perspectives

SOLID STATE PHYSICS:
A Question of Dimensions

Walt de Heer

In 1907, Albert Einstein studied the heat capacity of diamond to gain insight into the quantization of vibrations in solids. Hone et al. have now measured the heat capacity of another carbon compound, carbon nanotubes, to determine the dimensionality of their vibrations as a function of temperature. In his Perspective, de Heer compares the two studies, and concludes that carbon continues to provide new fundamental insights into the properties of condensed matter.

The author is in the Department of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. E-mail: deheer{at}electra.physics.gatech.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)