Rene Just Hauy (February 28, 1743 - June 3, 1822) was a French mineralogist and ordained Roman Catholic Priest. His interest in crystallography resulted from the accidental breaking of a piece of calcite. Upon examination he discovered that they cleaved along straight planes that met at constant angles. He broke more pieces of calcite and found that, regardless of the original shape, the broken fragments were consistently rhombohedral which led to his theory of crystal structure.

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Rene Just Hauy, French Mineralogist

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