Zvi Yehuda, the self-taught scientist credited with a string of diamond-related innovations, including the clarity-enhancement process that bears his name, died on May 6. He was 86.

Yehuda might be best known for the “Yehuda treatment,” which filled in the fractures of a diamond, boosting its clarity grade.

He also produced a machine for measuring color in diamond rough; pioneered “deep boiling,” to clean out black imperfections; and created the first diamond-cutting machine that used lasers.

Born in Haifa, prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, Yehuda was by his own admission a “terrible” student. At age 16, he began working with his father, a diamond cleaver, and soon discovered “they were throwing all the leftovers in the trash,” he recalled in a biographical video.

That led to his first brainstorm: used diamond dust could be put to work in grinding.

According to a 2019 profile, Yehuda pitched his idea to Israel’s minister of industry, who suggested the teenager bring in his father. His father declined, but Yehuda’s appeal proved convincing, and his project garnered government backing. By his early 20s, Yehuda was Israel’s leading supplier of diamond power.

In the mid-1980s, a series of inventions culminated in the development of the Yehuda treatment, which infused diamonds with a glass-like resin to improve their clarity. After it was introduced, the process caused considerable anxiety, as it could be damaged by high temperatures and was not considered permanent.

The introduction of lab-grown stones dented demand for clarity-enhanced diamonds, though even in his 80s, Yehuda was still inventing and reacting to changing times, creating a popular lab-grown diamond detector device, called the Sherlock Holmes.

“He was a great inspiration to a whole generation of people who thought that diamonds and technology could work together,” said his son Roni in the biographical video. “He is the kind of person who constantly and continuously only thinks about what is able to be improved.”

Yehuda’s inventions, his son noted with pride, “changed the industry forever.”

Zvi Yehuda is survived by his wife, Meira; sons Roni, Dror, and Moshe; daughter Yael; 12 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

(Photo: Yehuda Diamond Company)

Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine