It Is Dissymmetry That Creates Phenomena

The paper is devoted to the works in the field of symmetry and dissymmetry of crystals, carried out by the prominent crystallographer, founder, and first director of the Institute of Crystallography of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Academician Aleksei Vasil’evich Shubnikov. Throughout all his creative life (about 57 years) A.V. Shubnikov returned to this topic, starting with 1911. He, as well as the other outstanding scientist, Academician Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky, believed the problem of dissymmetry to be very important but little studied. The results of Shubnikov’s studies in this field of great importance and can be used in practical purposes.