The glitter of man-made diamonds is etched in H. Tracy Hall's mind as clearly as if he first made them this morning instead of 45 years ago.

The date was Dec. 16, 1954. Other researchers for General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y., had gone home for Christmas. Working alone in the lab, the Utahn ran a device that he had cobbled together out of an old, leaky hydraulic press. He finished the experiment and looked inside."The sun was shining through the south windows," he said last week from his home in Provo, "and, tiny as they were, I could see these little facets on these diamonds with my naked eye." Read full article