At the well attended first ever Italian Conference on Scientific Gemology in Rome last month, a keynote address entitled ‘Scientific Gemology: The State of Art’, was delivered by Brendan Laurs, editor of the Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) Gems & Gemology (G&G).

Laurs’ lecture explored several case studies, including country-of-origin determination for ruby and sapphire, characterization of the Wittelsbach-Graff and Hope diamonds, identification challenges associated with coated gems and identification of CVD synthetic diamonds.

The Conference was organised by the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Sapienza University of Rome and Roma Tre University, and attended by Italian and European gemologists, researchers and university professors. A conference report is being published in the Gem News International section of the Summer 2010 issue of G&G, to be released in August.