Posted on 09/12/2007 7:49:31 PM PDT by blam
Diamond synchatron to use x-rays to examine Dead Sea Scrolls
By Nic Fleming and Roger Highfield
Last Updated: 5:01pm BST 12/09/2007
Secrets contained in fragile documents such as the Dead Sea Scrolls are to be revealed using one of the most powerful light sources in the Universe.
British Association Festival of Science: Full coverage British scientists are using a giant instrument - in essence an extremely powerful torch and microscope combined - to read parchments that are too brittle to unroll or unfold.
Part of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their discovery enhanced knowledge of Christianity and Judaism
The Diamond synchatron creates X-ray beams 10 billion times brighter than the Sun, allowing researchers to study chemical and material samples in more detail than ever before.
It is contained in a flying saucer-shaped building the size of five football pitches near Didcot in Oxfordshire which opened for business in February.
Prof Tim Wess, of the University of Cardiff, is using the synchatron to retrieve information from fragile parchments and to study how they can be prevented from deteriorating.
Speaking at the British Association Festival of Science in York today, he said: "This is something we can take forward to try to unravel the secrets inside documents we are too scared to unroll or are beyond the point of conservation.
"The dream is to look at a historical manuscript of great value but sometimes you don't know the depth of the value because until you start looking at them, because you don't know what's there.
"As a biophysicist, developing these techniques and going to archives around Europe and around the world, has been fascinating. When you see these things working, it is a revelatory moment."
Parchment, made from cow, goat or sheep skin has been used to document the written word for more than 2,000 years. It is still used to record all Acts of Parliament.
The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of some 850 documents of enormous historical and religious significance discovered between 1947 and 1956 in caves in the West Bank.
They include ancient copies of books of the Old Testament, ancient prophecies and psalms of King David and Joshua. Their discovery greatly enhanced knowledge of Christianity, Judaism and the links between the two.
Prof Wess has been promised access to some of the Dead Sea Scrolls that have not been fully examined because of fears of damaging them.
He will first carry out studies on less valuable parchments to ensure using the synchatron does not damage them.
Documents such as the Domesday book, Magna Carta and the US Declaration of Independence deteriorate with age as collagen in the conditioned animal skin turns to gelatine.
Prof Wess is using the synchatron to shine new light on this process, analyse how far the collagen in specific documents has deteriorated and advise on how best they can be preserved.
He and colleagues use it to take a series of high-resolution X-rays from different angles. Detectors identify the location of metallic traces within the ink used to write the documents by measuring how many particles get through the parchment.
Prof Wess said that within three to four years the technique would be refined to the point where it could be used to show up text within pamphlets and even thin books.
This would allow researchers to use it to read some Beethoven and Mozart that cannot currently be opened because of fears they could be damaged.
Well that certainly explains my face the past couple of years.....Pruneface from Dick Tracy comes to mind...
The San Diego Natural Hist. Museum has the over $8 million exhibit of on loan of some of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Also many artifacts of the time and great background of the Jewish people who wrote them.
Cool!
It's not the brighness that's important here, but the fact that the beam is a single frequency and phase, like a laser. That allows sharp holographic imaging, and definitely sharpens diffraction patterns. They'll be able to use in tomography, like a CAT scan.
I got to see the exhibit when they were in Mobile, AL a few years ago. It was incredible!
I don’t suppose mad mo will get a mention in these. BTW, what’s a football pitch?
Yes, here it takes two levels of the bldg.
That's "synchrotron"!
bump for publicity
Well, maybe cause their British. Diamond synchatron/synchrotron, either way it sounds cool and I want one =D
Going into my wishlist along with teleporter, time machine and a Ray gun.
Their own website spells it the usual way. Synchrotron radiation is a well-known physical phenomenon.
hmm, that is odd. Typo I’m guessing. But that leaves more questions than answers. who types up a post by hand anyways?
If you look at the article link, the Telegraph has now corrected the spelling, but the cached version has their original spelling.
Thanks. I've seen these sorts of things before.
In the early days, I used to correct them until someone pointed out that JimRob wants the titles posted to FR just as they appear on the published article. So... when the British say civilisation, I do too, lol.
Gotcha..I will definitely keep a mental note of that.
|
|
|||
Gods |
Thanks Blam. |
||
|
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.