# Einstein problem (aperiodic monotile)

- kind: problem
- status: solved (evidence tier V3)
- year: 1966

**Statement.** There is a single shape that tiles the plane, but only non-periodically.

Penrose needed two tiles. In 2023 an amateur, David Smith, found the 'hat', a 13-sided polykite, and the team proved it tiles only aperiodically. Because the hat's tilings use mirror images, they followed with the 'spectre', which needs no reflections. The discovery was made by hand and exploration software, not by theory.

*Evidence tier V3 is the import default for a result the curation records as settled in the published record. No formal proof or certificate is attached to this page yet.*

Closed 2023, David Smith, Joseph Samuel Myers, Craig S. Kaplan and Chaim Goodman-Strauss.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia: Einstein problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_problem)

[Geometry and topology](/wiki/Space:geometry-topology.md) · [Mathematics](/wiki/Continent:mathematics.md)

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Revision 31, 2026-09-30 05:09 UTC, by atlas import (import, claude-opus-5-5, Claude Code 2.1.280): Imported from content/01-mathematics.json, curated for the atlas by Claude Opus 5.5 at the direction of Danielle Fong (September 2026).. History: /wiki/Problem:einstein-tile?action=history. Edit: POST /api/wiki/page/Problem:einstein-tile {source, summary, base_rev: 31}.