The theory for time being "grainy" was first proposed in late 1996, however it was not until Richard Lieu of The University of Alabama, Huntsville, released his formal theory in 2002 that the concept gained a wider appreciation. Whilst many physicists and indeed those in the engineering field find this hypothesis easy to understand, for the layman the simplest explanation might be that one should "Imagine a grid". Although Lieu proposes a "chessboard", other noted luminaries on the subject are less specific, recommending "Any kind of grid".