00:00Sharp eye. That's what they say about a person who can accurately estimate something by eye.
00:05Something that ordinary people can't do. Only electronics can.
00:09The American doctor Tracy Hall was truly a diamond among ordinary people.
00:14He was the first in the world to carry out a documented synthesis of diamond,
00:19using equipment of his own design.
00:22And how did the company General Electric, where he worked, reward him?
00:26They gave him a $10 bond.
00:31As you may know, naturally formed diamonds are created from carbon
00:36that is subjected to extreme pressure and heat at a depth of about 100 to 200 kilometers.
00:42Despite the work of many scientists on synthesis over the years,
00:46the first synthetic diamonds were created only in 1954 by a certain Howard Tracy Hall.
00:53Hall was born in 1919 in Ogden, Utah.
00:57As a child, Hall learned about Thomas Edison and quickly became fascinated with the inventor.
01:03It is known that as a child, he promised that one day he would work at Edison's company, General Electric.
01:09Hall received his bachelor's degree in 1942.
01:14World War II interrupted his studies.
01:16After being enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1944,
01:21Hall studied radar and electronics at Harvard University.
01:24He served as a warrant officer until 1946,
01:28before returning to university and earning his Ph.D. in chemistry.
01:32Then he fulfilled his childhood dream.
01:35He traveled across the country to work at the General Electric Laboratory in New York.
01:41He was hired because he was a highly sought-after specialist of his time.
01:44The company hired Hall as a chemist for the team of the recently launched Super Pressure Project,
01:50which was aimed at creating the first synthetic diamonds.
01:54General Electric spent $125,000, about $1.5 million today,
02:00on a press capable of creating electronics.
02:02Super Pressure.
02:04This purchase also required the company to build a three-story building specifically to house it.
02:10The expensive acquisition didn't pay off.
02:12The physicists on the team conducted failed experiments time and again.
02:17Hall thought that the company and the team that developed the machine
02:20approached the problem incorrectly,
02:22and believed there was a better and simpler way.
02:25He believed that with a few modifications and a specially designed device,
02:30he could use the older and cheaper 35-year-old Watson-Stillman Press to do this job.
02:37But when he approached his superiors for the thousands of dollars he thought were necessary
02:42to complete the modifications, they refused him.
02:45A group of leading physicists insisted that synthesis was only possible on a new press.
02:51In addition to Hall being denied money for modifications,
02:55the company also gave priority in machining to the physicists from the Super Pressure Project team.
03:00However, Hall did not let the management's lack of interest and skepticism in the project stop him.
03:07He convinced an acquaintance who was a mechanic to help him
03:10after hours in assembling the newly developed belt apparatus.
03:13However, since the steel available in the mechanics workshop
03:17was not strong enough to withstand the extreme pressure,
03:20he turned again to the management of General Electric.
03:23He asked them to purchase a substance called carboloy,
03:27which consisted of 6% cobalt and 94% tungsten carbide.
03:32Thanks to the intervention of a sympathetic supervisor,
03:35who had once made sure that Hall got a job on the superpressure team,
03:39the company eventually bought carboloy for Hall.
03:42When his machine was finally built, Hall began experimenting with it.
03:47It took him several attempts to create synthetic diamonds
03:51before he found the right method.
03:53On December 16, 1954, Hall was working alone in the laboratory,
03:59after the rest of the staff had already gone home for the Christmas holidays.
04:03Later, he described his discovery like this.
04:06My hands started to shake.
04:08My heart was beating fast.
04:10My knees grew weak and could no longer support me.
04:14My eyes caught the flashing light of dozens of tiny crystals.
04:18Hall conducted the experiment several more times to make sure it wasn't a coincidence,
04:23and each time he got the same result.
04:26Then he asked his colleague to conduct the test himself.
04:29Just like Hall, he successfully used the press on New Year's Eve of 1954
04:34to create synthetic diamonds.
04:37When Tracy Hall told his bosses at General Electric
04:41about the success achieved with the improvised device,
04:45they were skeptical.
04:46Basically, it was a device that could be assembled in a garage
04:50with a little bit of know-how.
04:52Their skepticism disappeared when they witnessed the experiment themselves.
04:56Hall left the building specifically before the test
04:59so that they couldn't claim he had somehow faked the results.
05:03After thoroughly making sure that this method was consistently reproducible,
05:07the company announced that it had created the world's first synthetic diamonds.
05:11However, initially, they claimed that it was more of a team effort
05:15by physicists and other researchers within the superpressure project,
05:19rather than Hall working on the project on his own
05:22and simply modifying the old press to suit his goals.
05:26They also stated that the diamonds...
05:29in the expensive press.
05:31General Electric invested a lot of money in the press
05:34and the team they assembled for its development and use.
05:37And they were not eager to admit to the world
05:39that all of it was a waste of time
05:41and that the diamonds in question were created on Hall's leaky,
05:44old, and easily accessible apparatus.
05:47The last point worried them especially
05:49because they didn't want people to know
05:51that practically anyone familiar with the design
05:54could build this thing without much expense.
05:57Later, some people did exactly that
05:59as soon as the details of the invention became known.
06:02Knowing the real story of the discovery of the synthesis,
06:06the company decided to give Dr. Hall his due,
06:08albeit not publicly.
06:10For the brilliant discovery that saved the company
06:13an incredible sum of money,
06:15for being the first among scientists and engineers
06:17to create something that previously took billions of years to form,
06:22General Electric awarded Hall a U.S. savings bond worth $10,
06:27which is about $85.
06:30Dr. Tracy Hall commented on such incredible generosity.
06:34Big deal.
06:36That $10 slap in the face was the last straw.
06:40If Hall had been given the proper recognition,
06:42and not the team of physicists,
06:44it can be said with absolute certainty
06:46that Hall would have received the Nobel Prize.
06:49Be that as it may,
06:50disappointed with his fate,
06:52Tracy Hall wasted no time
06:53and began looking for another job.
06:55Being involved in the team that managed to create synthetic diamonds
06:59was certainly valuable,
07:00a unique experience in itself,
07:02even if the public didn't know the whole truth.
07:05So Hall had no shortage of job offers.
07:08However, instead of going to work for another company,
07:12Hall accepted an offer from Brigham Young University in Utah
07:15to become a professor of chemistry and director of research.
07:19Although his original intention was to continue his research
07:22on the belt apparatus,
07:23the United States government decided that the invention
07:26was too important for the doctor
07:28to continue working in this direction.
07:30They placed a secrecy order on the apparatus
07:32and effectively forbade him from working with the device
07:35or talking about how it was made.
07:38Violating the terms of the secrecy order
07:40would result in a large monetary fine and imprisonment.
07:44But Tracy Hall was not one to give up easily,
07:46and he didn't just surrender.
07:48He circumvented the secrecy order within a year
07:51by simply inventing a completely different machine,
07:54a tetrahedral press that did the same thing as his original,
07:58but technically didn't violate the order.
08:00Moreover, his new device could potentially fall
08:03under a possible General Electric patent
08:05for his original machine,
08:06which he had invented while still at the company.
08:09Nevertheless, some people in the government
08:12didn't like such workarounds,
08:14and at first, the doctor was threatened
08:17with two years in prison
08:19and a $10,000 fine for inventing this machine.
08:23In addition, his new machine
08:25was placed under a court-issued non-disclosure order.
08:29Fortunately for Dr. Hall, time passed
08:31and the mood in the government changed
08:33and the restrictions were lifted.
08:35After years of inactivity
08:37due to dissatisfied politicians and scientists,
08:40Dr. Hall once again began to improve
08:42and publish his developments.
08:44Subsequently, Hall published
08:45about 150 peer-reviewed articles
08:48and won research grants
08:50totaling more than $1 million.
08:52He even became the co-founder
08:54of his own very successful
08:56synthetic diamond company
08:57called Mega Diamond,
08:59which still exists to this day.
09:02In retirement, from his investments,
09:04Dr. Hall became a farmer.
09:06He passed away in July 2008
09:08at the age of 88.
09:10In his later years,
09:11when the scientist was asked
09:12about his most important achievement in life,
09:14Hall simply said,
09:16home and family.
09:17That's the most important thing?
09:19That's the story of a brilliant scientist
09:21who spent half his life
09:22fighting against a major corporation
09:24and influential politicians
09:26and managed to win.
09:28And what else could Tracy Hall have invented
09:30if he hadn't spent part of his life
09:32on lawsuits and disputes
09:34with the ungrateful management
09:35of General Electric?
09:36Who knows?
09:37Thanks for watching.
09:39See you in the next episode.
09:41See you in the next episode.
Comments