GIA, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Padova, recently discovered crowningshieldite (figure 1), a new mineral named in honor of G. Robert Crowningshield (1919–2006), a pioneering researcher at GIA for more than 50 years. His many landmark contributions included the detection of irradiated diamonds, the initial report on General Electric’s facet-quality synthetic diamonds, and the description of “padparadscha” sapphire’s orangy pink to pinkish orange color. Crowningshieldite is a nickel sulfide mineral with a hexagonal crystal structure and can be regarded as the high-temperature polymorph of the mineral millerite. Discovered as an altered inclusion in two diamonds from the Letšeng mine in Lesotho, it was accepted as a mineral on September 18, 2018, by the International Mineralogical Association.
GIA, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Padova, recently discovered crowningshieldite (figure 1), a new mineral named in honor of G. Robert Crowningshield (1919–2006), a pioneering researcher at GIA for more than 50 years. His many landmark contributions included the detection of irradiated diamonds, the initial report on General Electric’s facet-quality synthetic diamonds, and the description of “padparadscha” sapphire’s orangy pink to pinkish orange color. Crowningshieldite is a nickel sulfide mineral with a hexagonal crystal structure and can be regarded as the high-temperature polymorph of the mineral millerite. Discovered as an altered inclusion in two diamonds from the Letšeng mine in Lesotho, it was accepted as a mineral on September 18, 2018, by the International Mineralogical Association.
