H. Tracy Hall, the General Electric scientist who became the first person to produce a diamond, died recently at 88.

In 1948, after earning a doctoral degree from the University of Utah, Hall joined General Electric’s Project Superpressure to convert carbon into diamond. In 1954, Hall made headlines worldwide when he produced the first diamond chemically identical to those found in nature. He said his “hands began to tremble” when he realized what he had accomplished.