Black Qolfera

Koh-i-noor diamond Koh-i-noor diamond - 'Mountain of Light' is one of the most famous Golconda diamonds in the world. First mentioned in 1306 when it was taken from a Rajah of Malwa, whose family had held the diamond for centuries. It was described as weighing 186 carats and was an oval cut white diamond - the shape and size of a small hen's egg. The Koh-i-noor diamond belonged to various Indian and Persian rulers but it became part of the 'Crown Jewels of England' at the time that Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India. The Koh-i-noor was re-cut at this time and now weighs 108.93 carats and is kept in the Tower of London. This the known image of  186 carats  Koh-i-noor diamond before it was cut and placed into the Royal crown of Britain. It originated from India in Golconda at the Kollur mine and was specifically mined from the 'Rayalaseema' - Land of Stones - diamond mine, during the rule of the Kakatiya dynasty. The Koh-i-noor wa...

 Nur-Ul-Ain diamond | Jeweler Magazine Nur-ul-Ain diamond - 'Light of the Eye': an Arabic languages coined by Persians, together with the loot plundered by Nadir Shah and his troops, after the capture and sacking of Delhi and Agra in 1739. The name by which the diamond was known while it remained with the the Mogul Emperors in India is not known. This precious stone weighs 60 carats, making it one of the largest colored diamonds in the world. Nadir Shah The Noor-ul-Ain is a pink diamond which means that it is part of a group of gems that only accounts for .0001 percent of the world's precious stones. On top of that, it was classified as a type IIa diamond which is the rarest type of diamonds - which accounts for diamonds such as the Hope Diamond. It originate from Kuller mines in Southern India, the Noor-ul-Ain is one of the most impressive stones in the world. Many believe it was once part of a larger diamond 400-carat diamond called the Great Table diam...

Darya-e Noor diamond | Jeweler Magazine Darya-e Noor diamond - 'Sea of Light': this light pink diamond were both brought back from India by Nader Shah in 1739. After the death of Nader Shah, Ahmad Shah Durrani took the Koh-e Noor to Afghanistan, where it passed onto Shah Shuja. He, in turn, was defeated by Ranjit Singh, the Lion of the Punjab. Eventually, it fell into the hands of the East India Company, which presented it to Queen Victoria. The Koh-e Noor is now incorporated in the Queen Mother's crown. The Koh-e Noor is said to bear a curse since all the male owners of the Kohi Noor suffered terrible fates. After Nader Shah's death, the Darya-e Noor was inherited by Shahrokh Mirza, his grandson. It then came into the possession of Alam Khan Khozeimeh, and later, Lotfoli Khan Zand, a member of Iran's Zand Dynasty.   Nader Shah, 1739 Agha Mohammad Khan, cruel founder of Qajar dynasty, defeated the Zands, and so it came into the possession of t...

Neglected Neurons : f ifty years after it was originally discovered, scientists at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research have elucidated the function of a microscopic network of tubules found in neurons. This structure modulates the strength of connections between two neurons, thereby contributing to our ability to learn and to adapt to new situations. image credit: science photo library For neurobiologist Thomas Oertner of the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, which is part of the Novartis Research Foundation, this was a eureka moment: “After years of intensive research, we’ve managed to ascribe an important function to a neglected structure in nerve cells.” Two-photon-microscopy of a neuron.  In the current online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ("Differential distribution of endoplasmic reticulum controls metabotropic signaling and plasticity at hippocampal synapses"), Oertner’s group desc...

Famous Hope Diamond Le Bijou du Roi - 'King's Jewel' or Le bleu de France - 'France's Blue', 'French Blue', or popularly known as 'Cursed Hope Diamond ', and the Tavernier Blue, is a large, 45.52-carat (9.104 g), deep-blue diamond, the blue tavernier diamond is believed to have come from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India. At present the blue diamond is housed in the National Gem and Mineral collection at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Tavernier Blue known o rigin of the Hope Diamond It is blue to the naked eye because of trace amounts of boron within its crystal structure, and exhibits red phosphorescence after exposure to ultraviolet light. It is classified as a Type IIb diamond, and is notorious for supposedly being cursed. It has a long recorded history, with few gaps, in which it changed hands numerous times on its way from India to France to Britain and eventually to the United States, where it ...