Gemology Memes

The meme hilariously pits pop culture against physics! Rihanna's famous "Shine bright like a diamond" lyric gets absolutely demolished by Einstein (allegedly) pointing out that diamonds don't actually shine—they reflect light through their crystalline structure. What makes this extra funny is that Einstein probably never said this, but it's exactly the kind of pedantic correction scientists love to make at parties. Technically, he's right though! Diamonds have a high refractive index (2.42) and perfect internal reflection geometry that scatters incoming light back to our eyes rather than generating their own luminescence. Next time someone tells you to shine like a diamond, hit them with some optical physics knowledge!