| Description | Simon was a personal friend of Sir Ernest Oppenheimer and suggested to him that the diamond industry should not be without scientific backup. He recommended RW Ditchburn of Reading University to the Oppenheimers to carry out research into diamond colouration.
Ditchburn's research was mostly on whether diamonds coloured by bombardment could be distinguished from naturally occuring diamonds.
The material here consists of correspondence on the funding of Ditchburn's research, the obtaining of samples and Philip Oppenheimer's nervousness on the publishing of Ditchburn's research. The papers mostly dated 1952-1954.
Also, some correspondence with Dr FC Champion, King's College, London, on his diamond research and earlier correspondence with Ditchburn, 1946-1950, of a more general nature. |