University of Bern receives major diamond collection for research

More than 29,000 rough diamonds are heading into the scientific life of the University of Bern, giving Swiss researchers access to one of the world’s largest collections assembled for research and teaching. Jeffrey W. Harris and his wife, Francesca Harris, donated the stones to the university. The collection is housed off campus and will support work on mineral formation and the geological history of the Earth’s interior.

The donation arrived with a clear distinction between commercial and scientific value. Each diamond has an average reported value of $10, or CHF 8.20, limiting the material worth of the collection. Its research value lies in the information preserved inside the crystals. The stones originate from Africa, South America, North America, Asia and Oceania, giving students and scientists access to material formed in different geological settings.

The University of Bern said the collection will help researchers identify minerals and reconstruct conditions deep beneath the Earth’s surface. The donation also strengthens Bern’s role in Earth sciences, a field where laboratory instruments and access to representative samples can determine the questions researchers are able to investigate.

Diamonds can preserve evidence from billions of years of Earth history. Their durability and near chemical stability allow them to retain material from the conditions in which they formed. The oldest diamonds in the collection date back about 3.5 billion years, while the youngest are approximately 55 million years old.

Some stones contain inclusions, tiny pockets of high density liquid, molten material or minerals trapped during crystallisation. Researchers can analyse those inclusions to study pressure, temperature and chemical conditions far below the surface. Such evidence helps scientists trace how the Earth evolved and how its interior has changed over geological time.

The University of Bern describes diamonds as natural archives because the crystals can protect these inclusions from later alteration. A rough stone therefore carries information that may be invisible from its exterior. Researchers can cut, crush or analyse selected samples, while preserving the wider collection for future work and teaching.

The age range also gives students a tangible route into deep time. In Bern’s laboratories, a small mineral inclusion can connect present day measurements with events that took place before modern continents and ecosystems emerged.

Five continents are represented in the donated material. The rough diamonds came from Africa, South America, North America, Asia and Oceania before reaching the Diamond Trading Company in London. The company donated them to Harris for scientific research, and each donation is documented by an original deed of gift.

That documentation gives the collection a traceable history and allows researchers to record the provenance of individual samples. Geographic origin matters because diamonds form under different geological conditions. Comparing stones from different regions can help scientists examine variation in mineral composition and the processes that carried deep Earth material toward the surface.

The collection’s purpose also shapes how the university will use it. These are teaching and research samples, not a stockpile intended for the jewellery market. Their modest average value, $10 per diamond, makes the scientific archive accessible for controlled laboratory study while preserving a large pool of material for future projects.

The off campus storage site provides the collection with a dedicated home. From there, researchers and students can select samples for analytical work, maintain the accompanying records and build new studies around questions that have yet to be asked.

Bern already has the tools to turn rough stones into geological evidence. The University of Bern is one of the few universities worldwide with its own diamond grinding wheel and diamond crushing facility. It also operates a high precision mass spectrometer for isotopic analysis, along with specialised methods for visualising the chemical composition of materials in space.

Those facilities allow researchers to prepare samples and measure their properties within the same academic environment. Grinding and crushing can expose internal material for study. Mass spectrometry can then help determine isotopic signatures, while chemical imaging reveals how elements are distributed through a stone or an inclusion.

The arrival of the Harris Diamond Collection expands the range of samples available for these techniques. It can support laboratory classes, doctoral research and projects focused on newly identified minerals. The university has not provided a timetable for specific studies, nor has it announced individual research results from the collection.

For Swiss Earth scientists, the value lies in sustained access. A large, documented sample base gives researchers room to compare results across regions and ages, while teaching laboratories can introduce students to the same analytical methods used in active geological research.

The collection gives Switzerland a long term research asset rather than a short lived display. The Harris diamonds will be available for teaching and scientific investigation at the University of Bern, where specialised equipment can connect the samples to high precision analysis. The institution has not published a detailed schedule for access, experiments or findings.

Its likely impact will develop through repeated comparisons. Researchers can examine diamonds from multiple regions, study inclusions formed at different times and test new methods as analytical technology advances. Students can also work with natural samples whose histories reach from 55 million years to about 3.5 billion years, placing Swiss laboratory training within a global geological record.

The collection adds to Bern’s position in Earth sciences and gives international researchers a substantial reference base in Switzerland. Original deeds of gift preserve the provenance of the donated material, while off campus storage provides space for a large archive that can grow in value as new questions emerge.

For the public, the scientific story begins with a familiar gemstone and ends deep beneath the planet’s surface. In Bern, rough diamonds will serve as samples for understanding minerals, geological change and the conditions that shaped the Earth’s interior.