In 1958, the Smithsonian Institution received a plain paper package in the mail. The only hint of its contents was the insurance on the brown carton, registered for one million dollars. Nestled inside the box sat the largest known blue diamond in the world.

Before reaching the museum, the Hope Diamond travelled through the underbelly of London jewel markets, surviving Marie Antoinette's beheading and the French revolution's sacking of the crown jewels. But a billion years before it was mined, cut, set, or insured, its true origins likely began a hundred miles below Golconda, India.

The word "diamond" comes from the Greek word adamas, which means 'invincible.' Diamonds are the hardest mineral we know of, only scratchable by other diamonds, which is why they are now used for weapons manufacturing. (The jewels proved so useful in World War II that the United States made depriving Hitler of an industrial diamond supply a major war goal.) The gemstone's molecular structure is what makes it so tough: Diamonds are made of carbon atoms linked together. Each atom shareselectrons with four others, forming a five-sided lattice structure that is incredibly strong. Just one carat contains billions of these linked atoms.