1955    Mir Mine, the first diamond mine in the USSR, is discovered.

2002    F.B.I. agent Robert Hanssen is given a life sentence without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.

2004    The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe's largest known diamond, white dwarf star ''BPM 37093''. Astronomers named this star "Lucy" after The Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".