A Bjerrum defect is a crystallographic defect which is specific to ice, and which is partly responsible for the electrical properties of ice. It was first proposed by Niels Bjerrum in 1952 in order to explain the electrical polarization of ice in an electric field. A hydrogen bond normally has one proton, but a hydrogen bond with a Bjerrum defect will have either two protons (D defect, from "doppel" in German, meaning "double") or no proton (L defect, from "leer" in German, meaning "empty"). D-defects are more energetically favorable than L-defects. The unfavorable defect strain is resolved when a water molecule pivots about an oxygen atom to produce hydrogen bonds with single protons. Dislocations of ice Ih along a slip plane create pairs of Bjerrum defects, one D defect and one L defect.