of the Haber-Bosch Process, but it was not until the 1950s that the electrically insulative properties of BN were detailed and the graphite-like hexagonal form (h-BN) was produced on an industrial level by Union Carbide and Carborundum Universal.

In 1957, the cubic form of boron nitride (c-BN) was synthesised by Robert H. Wentworf, Jr., a physical chemist