Brilliance and Fire by Rachelle Bergstein

Author:Rachelle Bergstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-04-15T16:00:00+00:00

11

The Inventors

HOW TO MAKE A DIAMOND (AND PROVOKE DE BEERS)

Paris, New York, and Washington, DC

Unfortunately for diamond industry executives, young, antiestablishment Americans weren’t the only threat to their livelihood. Since the earliest days of De Beers, its board had lived in fear of encroachment from a surprising source: the scientific community. The entire monopoly rested on the premise that diamonds were rare earthen treasures. If an alternative source of gemstones was discovered—one that existed well outside the syndicate’s reach—then the glittering stronghold built by Cecil Rhodes could potentially collapse.

Making matters worse for De Beers, scientists had been fascinated by diamonds since as far back as the seventeenth century, when Sir Isaac Newton wondered if the hardest substance on earth might actually burst into flames if subjected to high enough temperatures. He was right, but never proved his own hypothesis. However, Newton inspired the subsequent generations of chemists who, through a series of related experiments, eventually came to an unexpected conclusion: the scintillating diamond was just plain old carbon. Graphite was its dull cousin. There was nothing extraordinary about the diamond’s chemical composition, so the magic—the special alchemy that separated the world’s most precious gemstone from simple pencil lead—occurred in the process of formation.

What exactly that process entailed, nobody knew. The question of how to make a diamond obsessed certain scientists. But it wasn’t until 1905 when a young, black-bearded chemist named Henri Lemoine contacted an older man named Sir Julius Wernher that the standoff between science and industry became truly heated. Wernher was a German-born banker who had backed Cecil Rhodes against Barney Barnato during the contentious early years of De Beers. Wernher held interests in many of the country’s most prolific mines, including Kimberley, and sat on the corporation’s governing board. In his letter to Wernher, Lemoine explained that he had created diamonds in a laboratory that not only were gem quality but also ranged up to one carat in size. Would Wernher be interested in traveling to Paris to witness his process? Wernher found it impossible to ignore Lemoine’s offer. If the worst had come to pass—if science had finally managed to replicate the growth that happened deep beneath the kopjes in the belly of South Africa—then he wanted to know about it. He made his travel preparations at once.

In Paris, Wernher and a few of his colleagues met the sparkling-eyed scientist at his house on the Rue Lecourbe on the bohemian Left Bank. Lemoine was thirty years old but had a grave air about him, and commanded respect like a man twice his age. Wernher was immediately impressed. But then Lemoine launched into his demonstration and shocked his guests when he began removing all of his clothing. The spectators questioned his methods, but Lemoine, dead serious but only half dressed, assured them that this was the only way they’d be utterly convinced by his work. After all, when the representatives from De Beers saw his flawless product, they would surely suspect that the diamonds were planted, and Lemoine wanted to prove that he had no gemstones hidden up his sleeves or stuffed in his pockets.

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