George Bosshart

M.Sc. SFIT, G.G.
Research Gemmologist
george.bosshart@swissonline.ch

George Bosshart has an academic background in earth sciences and, more specifically, in mineralogy from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1975, after four years of mineral analysis in the ALCAN (Aluminum of Canada) Research & Development laboratories at Arvida, Québec, and gemmological studies in Los Angeles, he was entrusted with setting up and directing the SSEF (Swiss Foundation for the Research of Gemstones) Laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland.

Specializing in analytical techniques, he authored articles in several languages on the identifica-tion of coloured diamonds and gemstones, e.g. a well-quoted paper on the distinction of natural and synthetic rubies by UV absorption spectrometry. He proposed, and in 1988 he was granted permission, to record low-temperature ultraviolet/visible and infrared spectra of the historic “Dresden Green“ Diamond in order to improve the criteria for identifying the green colours of naturally and artificially irradiated diamonds, a demanding and on-going research project.

In 1992, George Bosshart was nominated Manager (later Chief Gemmologist) of the renowned Gübelin Gem Lab in Lucerne, Switzerland. He is an authority in the identification of fancy colour diamonds and in the determination of the origin of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, alexandrites etc. In the past decade, and to gain first-hand information, he visited numerous active gem mines in Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka, East Africa, and Brazil, of which the trek to the Jade mines in Upper Burma in 1997 was the most adventurous one. He was involved in analytical research aiming at the identification of brownish type IIa diamonds decolorized by the application of high pressure/high temperature techniques in Russian and American laboratories.

He retired in May 2004 and now concentrates on enlarging and improving the data base for the natural and artificial blue to green colours of irradiated diamonds but research on coloured gemstone topics is going on as well.

George Bosshart is a member of the Swiss Chamber of Forensic Experts, of the Swiss Mineralogical and Petrographic Society and of the International Gemmological Conference.

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