LATEST TECHNOLOGY INVENTION: ARCHIMEDES MAY BE BACK! by Gary Cogley
What are you talking? -
Archimedes and latest technology invention in the same breath? For those not in
the know - Archimedes was the ancient Greek's most famous mathematician. He was
the one who ran through the streets naked yelling "Eureka" (I have found it)
when he solved a very important problem while sitting in his bath.
The latest technology invention is this - taking what most probably the latest
and using it in a new way. Archimedes had scribed some of his theories on goat
parchment somewhere between 287-212 B.C. Amazingly, this parchment has lived on
- and in the middle ages a Monk scraped the papyrus and OVERWROTE Archimedes'
writings - (which was probably the best thing to happen - because the writings
lived on (covered over) as a Christian prayer book - thus not subject to
destruction by anti-science thinkers of the Dark Ages and beyond).
Without getting into the whole story - the manuscript has lived on to this day -
where it was purchased at auction for about 2 million dollars, and then very
graciously turned over to classicists and old book restorers. It was found that
the prayer book had been written over some other writing.
Here is where the latest technology invention comes in. The experts were having
trouble reading the underlying script, naturally. A physicist that worked with
the Stanford Synchotron Radiation Laboratory - which runs the Stanford Linear
Accelerator Center - just happened to get some info on the Archimedes project
while at a conference.
This physicist studies spinach! His latest technology invention was studying how
determine iron and other elements in spinach. He - through the info he received
- found that the ink used by Archimedes would have iron as a base.
The next step was to contact the classicists and restorers of the manuscript and
suggest using his tools (the Stanford accelerator) to scan the book like he did
his spinach - and the iron content in the ink should stand out (even through the
overwriting).
After over four years of preparation - the use of this latest technology
invention was accomplished. The scanning of the document is being done as we
speak [beginning August 4, 2006]. The results are pretty amazing - and are
available online and with a webcam.
http://www.archimedespalimpsest.org/ For the web-cam: http://www.exploratorium.edu/archimedes/webcast.html
This is one of the first instances where classicists and language scholars and
physicists (nuclear and other) have worked together on a project such as this.
The concept is mind-boggling - two such diverse fields working together to bring
one of mankind's greatest minds back to life with his writings - which have been
buried beneath prayers for thousand of years. This is truly a fascinating use of
the latest technology invention.
About the Author:
Gary J. Cogley, JD, after being
a musician, a TV Producer/Director/Writer, and an entertainment and IP attorney,
now writes about all kinds of gadgets, gizmos and inventions. He also gives tips
and info on patents, and scams to watch out for. Get your gadget at:
http://www.gadgets-gizmos-inventions.com Source of this article:
www.goarticles.com
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