Excavating the Archimedes palimpsest
The work underway using X-ray fluorescence to tease out information from the Archimedes palimpsest is back in the news.
Jonathan Fildes of the BBC reports this concerning the text and its "excavation" which is taking place at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lab:
Until now, the pages have remained obscured by paintings and texts laid down on top of the original writings.Using a non-destructive technique known as X-ray fluorescence, the researchers are able to peer through these later additions to read the underlying text.
The goatskin parchment records key details of Archimedes work, considered the foundation of modern mathematics.
The writings include the only Greek version of On Floating Bodies known to exist, and the only surviving ancient copies of The Method of Mechanical Theorems and the Stomachion.
In the treatises, the 3rd Century mathematician develops numerical descriptions of the real world.
"Archimedes was like no one before him," says Will Noel, curator of manuscripts and rare books at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland and director of the imaging project.
"It just doesn't get any better than rereading the mind of one of the greatest figures of Western civilisation."
Considered by some as the "eighth wonder of the world" a live webcast of the researchers revealing some of the original Greek will be shown at 4:00 pm PDT on 4 August.
Continue reading the BBC article here.