Posted on 08/04/2006 7:39:30 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO Previously hidden writings of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes are being uncovered with powerful X-ray beams nearly 800 years after a Christian monk scrubbed off the text and wrote over it with prayers.
Over the past week, researchers at Stanford University's Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park have been using X-rays to decipher a fragile 10th century manuscript that contains the only copies of some of Archimedes' most important works.
The X-rays, generated by a particle accelerator, cause tiny amounts of iron left by the original ink to glow without harming the delicate goatskin parchment.
We are gaining new insights into one of the founding fathers of western science, said William Noel, curator of manuscripts at Baltimore's Walters Art Museum, which organized the effort. It is the most difficult imaging challenge on any medieval document because the book is in such terrible condition.
Following a successful trial run last year, Stanford researchers invited X-ray scientists, rare document collectors and classics scholars to Menlo Park to take part in the 11-day project.
It takes about 12 hours to scan one page using an X-ray beam about the size of a human hair, and researchers expect to decipher up to 15 pages that resisted modern imaging techniques. After each new page is decoded, it is posted online for the public to see.
On Friday, members of the public watched the decoding process via a live Web cast arranged by the San Francisco Exploratorium.
We are focusing on the most difficult pages where the scholars haven't been able to read the texts, said Uwe Bergmann, the Stanford physicist heading the project. We are filling in the missing texts.
Born in the 3rd century B.C., Archimedes is considered one of ancient Greece's greatest mathematicians, perhaps best known for discovering the principle of buoyancy while taking a bath.
The 174-page manuscript, known as the Archimedes Palimpsest, contains the only copies of treatises on flotation, gravity and mathematics. Scholars believe a scribe copied them onto the goatskin parchment from the original Greek scrolls.
Three centuries later, a monk scrubbed off the Archimedes text and used the parchment to write prayers at a time when the Greek mathematician's work was less appreciated.
The parchment was a rare commodity, said Neil Calder of the linear accelerator center. You needed a whole flock of sheep to produce enough parchment for a book of this size.
In the early 20th century, forgers tried to boost the manuscript's value by painting religious imagery on some of the pages.
In 1998, an anonymous private collector paid $2 million for the manuscript at an auction, then loaned it to the Walter Arts Museum for safekeeping and study.
Over the past eight years, researchers have used ultraviolet and infrared filters, as well as digital cameras and processing techniques, to reveal most of the buried text, but some pages were still unreadable.
After reading about the Archimedes text, Stanford's Bergmann proposed using the U.S. Energy Department's Menlo Park particle accelerator to detect the iron in the hidden ink. Electrons speeding along the circular accelerator emit X-rays that can penetrate the parchment's paint and grime and illuminate the iron.
We will never recover all of it, Noel said. We are just getting as much as we can, and we are going to the ends of the earth to get it.
LOL! And I'm looking for the meaning of the universe in the "Lost" series.
Not. If you don't rely on books and your own comprehension you'll end up screwed. Oh, wait; didn't he...
Ironically enough, the writings revealed plans for a linear accelerator. In fact, translated loosely from the Greek they read "If you can read this, you don't need to."
fall
... because when the scrap iron is in the water it displaces its volume, which is about 13% of the volume of water displaced by its weight when it was in the boat.
I'd like you to think about something: who are "christians?" Are the all the same? Do they all burn altars on Easter Island? Do they all do the same things, think the same thoughts, solve problems the same way? Do you know what the circumstances were at the alleged altar burning?
Now, substitute the word "blacks" for "christians" in your sentence, just to get a feel for what prejudice sounds like when it's subject is not who we expect it to be.
I have left out the whole question of whether or not burning an altar to a false god is an appropriate course of action.
You watch a lot of PBS, don't you? /rhetorical question.
And I have also offered only the merest hint at how instrumental, how indispensable, Christianity has been in bringing understanding of the Laws of Nature and Nature's God to mankind -- understanding and beneficial application. It would make a fascinating story, if it were ever to be told.
"LOL! And I'm looking for the meaning of the universe in the "Lost" series."
42 ('A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Stars')
It isn't really a religious question, its economics. We forget in these days of mass media and high literacy that it even in the recent past it was terribly expensive to produce, distribute, and keep documents. As the article said, it would have taken a flock of sheep skin, and many many hours to create enough vellum to create the book of prayers. At the time, the book of prayers was more valuable to the monestary than the book by Archemeides, so they recycled the pages. Did they know they were getting rid of the last copy? I'd guess not.
Even in this age we lose important documents, and sometimes the reason may be that we simply produce way too much information now.
Sicily would be Greater Greece.
First blink I read 'Archimedes' hidden writings revealed particle accelerator.' He had some nifty military equipment designs. But, he wasn't aware his town had been invaded, not an uncommon thing to happen in those days before MSM, and told the soldier to get out of his light. Oops. When Babylon fell, some in the areas outside of downtown didn't even hear about it for three days.
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I wonder what their anticipated recovery rate is, if they can get 50% of it or 90%.
Prolly a YEC'er
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