Image Credit: Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory
"Eigen" is a German/Dutch word meaning "inherent."
From Wikipedia: "Eigenvalues are often introduced in the context of linear algebra or matrix theory. Historically, however, they arose in the study of quadratic forms and differential equations.
"Euler studied the rotational motion of a rigid body and discovered the importance of the principal axes. Lagrange realized that the principal axes are the eigenvectors of the inertia matrix. In the early 19th century, Cauchy saw how their work could be used to classify the quadric surfaces, and generalized it to arbitrary dimensions. Cauchy also coined the term racine caractéristique (characteristic root) for what is now called eigenvalue; his term survives in characteristic equation."
Graphene research was the subject of the 2010 Nobel Prize.
This is a recent paper on the electrical properties of Graphene that will hopefully lead to further advancements in electronics.
The authors are Rajyavardhan Ray and Avinash Singh, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India:
Graphine_Eigenstates_1105.2354v1
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