In the early 1980s, Israeli scientist Dan Shechtman discovered that snow crystals could form in structures that are ordered, but that have no repeating pattern. The idea was so controversial that he did not publish his results for two years, fearing that no one would believe him. It turns out, he should not have worried as he was awarded the Nobel Prize for the work in 2011. The structures, now known as quasicrystals, resemble Moorish mosaics such as those found in the Alhambra in Granada, Spain.