Fred-
But does information about a person who was important
in the history of the
production of artificial diamonds belong in an article on gas absorption
refrigerators?
Well, since he left the project before it succeeded, it is arguable
whether it belongs there at all; but if it is to be included, it could as
well briefly be mentioned in an article about diamond synthesis. However,
if his contributions are significant, then it is realistically possible to
write a lot more about them, so having a short article as a placeholder
for a longer one is OK.
Simply put: If the person is relatively unimportant in the great scheme of
things, it would not be surprising to see in a traditional encyclopedia
See: ''refrigerator'', ''diamond synthesis''
In Wikipedia, the analogy would be a redirect to the page if it is a
single one. But if the person turns up in too many different contexts for
that to be workable, it is of course OK to have an article about them,
even if it doesn't grow into a lengthy essay. I believe these cases to be
relatively rare exceptions compared to the hundreds of always-will-be stub
articles that are created every month.
Regards,
Erik