Born in 1862, Huddleston was a farmer, born to a farming family in Pike County, Arkansas. By surprise in August 1906, Huddleston discovered two unusual crystals on the property, along a dirt road, turning him to a wealthy man.
Born in 1862, Huddleston was a farmer, born to a farming family in Pike County, Arkansas. By surprise in August 1906, Huddleston discovered two unusual crystals on the property, along a dirt road, turning him to a wealthy man.
Lazare Kaplan was born to a financially-struggling Jewish family. One of 13 children, Kaplan was born on July 17, 1883 in Zabludova, Russia to Simon and Rachel Kaplan. His father was very religious and spent his nights studying Jewish texts. However as a third generation descendant of a jewelry-making family, during the day he was a watchmaker and jeweler, giving his son his first taste of jewelry.
In the Middle Ages, alchemists tried to turn lead into gold. Lead was an inexpensive metal, while gold was and remains very valuable and a traded commodity. Success meant creating wealth. Similarly, scientists made serious efforts to imitate the natural process that creates diamonds. In the late 19th century, some of these efforts garnered some success. However, the important breakthroughs came only in the mid-20th century at the labs of General Electric in New York, where the first High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) machine was invented by Tracy Hall.