Inventor, 89, has his eye on diamonds
By the age of 80, most people have retired. But not Zalman Shapiro, an 89-year-old inventor. He just received his 15th patent for a process that may make diamonds cheaper for jewelry and technology.
Dr. Zalman Shapiro receives his patent certificate from John Doll, acting Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office headquarters in Washington, D.C. (John Dimsdale/Marketplace)
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TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: At the U.S. patent office today, 89-year-old Zalman Shapiro was presented with his 15th patent. I could give you the technical definition of what he did, but think of it this way: We might soon be seeing a lot of bigger and cheaper diamond engagement rings out there. I'll let Dr. Shapiro explain his new way to mass-produce man-made bling.
ZALMAN SHAPIRO: What I have done is I have combined the issue of solubility of carbon in liquid metal with the formation of crystals of diamond.
Not only will it make it less expensive, but it will also make them more uniform in quality. They will be more available. And because they're going to be cheaper they'll be used for various other technological purposes, which have not yet been developed.
Jewelry will become much more affordable and, therefore, there will be much more available of various kinds. They may even decorate some of the pets with jewelry.
Because of the unique properties of diamond, it's the hardest material known to man at this point. And its reflectivity and its refractivity, and the fact that it is stiff and transparent. One of the most important properties is the fact that it has a very high thermal conductivity. That's why, incidentally, the nickname for diamonds is "ice." And the reason for that is because if you put the diamond against your skin, it conducts the heat away so quickly that it feels cold.
Diamonds have been synthesized in the last 50 years, roughly. And I was working at Johns Hopkins where I got my degrees in 1942 during the World War II, and my professor under whom I was working, was very much interested in diamonds. And so I became interested at that time. He was trying all kinds of methods of synthesizing diamonds and failed. But anyhow, since that time I've been interested in following it.
Persistence is absolutely essential. You have to be persistent, otherwise you can't come up with anything unless you're persistent.
RYSSDAL: A very persistent 89-year-old Zalman Shapiro in Washington today to receive his 15th patent on mass-producing diamonds.
Comments
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From Newark, CA, 06/17/2009
Me and my husband both listened to this while coming back from work and the first thing he said was to sell my engagment ring as diamonds will become cheap. As a chemistry student, I have read that people from long time have tried systhesis of diamond but it failed due to the high cost and low quality but if it is really great, why not..some day as he said we will have our pets decorated with it.
From HI, 06/16/2009
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7,547,358
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It will never work. You will never hear anything else about it. But don't discourage him. Just be nice! OK?
Grazia,
A
06/16/2009
There were two companies some five years ago that were already making diamonds. No mention of this of course. Because no research was done.
Second. Jewelry will still be expensive. That's the point. If diamonds become cheap, then people will demand the next highest priced gem or yet to be found gem as gifts.
But as for science and technology, it will be a nice gift.
From Alexandria, VA, 06/16/2009
Sorry! My mistake. I just looked at the AP Stylebook and it's actually...
"United States Patent and Trademark Office
"Always use the full name. United States Patent and Trademark Office or U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Never "Patent and Trademark Office" or "Patent Office"."
From Alexandria, VA, 06/16/2009
Hello. Great story. But, it's the "U.S. Patent and Trademark Office"
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