The Dice-Stone Der Wurfelstein: Some Personal Souvenirs Around the Discovery of the First Ferromagnetic Ferroelectric

Historical flashlights are presented on the real life background of the discovery in 1964 of the first ferromagnetic/ferroelectric single crystalline material, Nickel Iodine Boracite. The subsequent stony trail until support for scientific follow-up, finally obtained in 1978, is summarised. Leaving out intermediate research milestones, the present day state-of-the-art is succinctly resumed, culminating in the insight that a variety of boracite phases are ferroelastic, ferroelectric, ferromagnetic and ferrotoroidic in the same phase, representing herewith useful model substances for studying a high degree of multiferroic complexity.