 In 1926, J Willard Hershey synthesized one of the world's earliest synthetic (man-made) diamonds on the McPherson College campus.Reporting on his experiments, Hershey wrote, "Since we first began our experiments in their manufacture more than 50 diamonds have been made synthetically at McPherson College, ranging in size from the smallest, one millimeter (about 1/25 inch) in diameter, to the largest, which, is two millimeters by one and one half millimeters by one millimeter, weighing 1/30 carat.