--- title: The Einstein shape: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 description: Find out why The Einstein shape is one of the best inventions of 2023 canonical: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324101/the-einstein-shape/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-10-24T11:00:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T00:22:07.833Z og:title: The Einstein shape: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 og:description: Find out why The Einstein shape made this year's list og:url: https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324101/the-einstein-shape/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6244931e3664282a/698a417edb2987234e269770/best-inventions-2023-einstein-shape.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Einstein shape: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Einstein shape: The 200 Best Inventions of 2023 twitter:description: Find out why The Einstein shape made this year's list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6244931e3664282a/698a417edb2987234e269770/best-inventions-2023-einstein-shape.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 24, 2023 # A Long-sought Solution The Einstein shape by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large  David Smith/Joseph Samuel Myers/Craig S. Kaplan/Chaim Goodman-Strauss Unless you’re renovating a bathroom, you may not think a lot about tiles. But mathematicians do. One of their long-standing quests has been to design a tile shape that can cover a plane of infinite size without repeating the pattern with which the tiles fit together. Formally an aperiodic monotile, it’s also called an einstein—from the German for “one” and “stone.” Last November, David Smith, a retired printing technician in Yorkshire, England, hit einsteinian pay dirt by creating this 13-sided shape. Did the world need an aperiodic monotile? No. Are we a little smarter now that one exists? Absolutely. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324101/the-einstein-shape/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324101/the-einstein-shape/"},"headline":"A Long-sought Solution","datePublished":"2023-10-24T11:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:22:07.833Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324101/the-einstein-shape/","keywords":["list","franchise","ecommerce","Magazine","best inventions","Best Inventions 2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6244931e3664282a/698a417edb2987234e269770/best-inventions-2023-einstein-shape.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"creator":"Jeffrey Kluger","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6244931e3664282a/698a417edb2987234e269770/best-inventions-2023-einstein-shape.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2023/6324101/the-einstein-shape/","name":"A Long-sought Solution"}}]}] ```