Primus Pilus Posted March 14, 2007 Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 A thin beam of X-rays scans the writings of the legendary Greek scientist and mathematician Archimedes, a hidden text that may be the most important ancient scientific document discovered since the Renaissance. As faint lines emerge on a large computer monitor at Stanford's Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, I can just barely make out the ghostly image of the Greek letter lambda. As a Webcast producer for the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco, I have been documenting this experimental use of one of the most sophisticated tools of modern science, to decipher a 1,000-year-old book made of goatskin. Known as the Archimedes Palimpsest, dubbed Archie for short, it looks terribly fragile. The edges of most of the book's 174 pages are burned, and tears, holes and spots of purple mold dot their surface. The parchment is smaller than I thought it would be, not much larger than a hardback novel... Smithsonian Magazine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephele Posted March 14, 2007 Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 Almost as much as what these ancient writings reveal, what fascinates me is how they resurface after having been "missing" for numbers of years. Then, sometime after World War I, the palimpsest disappeared again, removed from the library under mysterious circumstances Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted March 14, 2007 Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 Think of the treasures that might be unearthed if the alleged hidden library of Ivan the Terrible is found. Maybe it was a good thing that the French family had the book, else it might very easily have been mishandled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted March 14, 2007 Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 Forgot! Today is 'Pi' day, March 14, i.e., '3.14'. (Thanks BBC.) It is also Pridie Ides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theilian Posted March 14, 2007 Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 Forgot! Today is 'Pi' day, March 14, i.e., '3.14'. (Thanks BBC.) It is also Pridie Ides. And the pi moment would be right before 16 hr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DecimusCaesar Posted March 14, 2007 Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 It's amazing how ancient treasures re-surface. The so called 'jewels of Helen' were dug up in Germany a few years back after being hidden after World War 2. What makes this discovery more special is that you rarely come across a lost ancient text. I wonder how many other lost works will be found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted March 14, 2007 Report Share Posted March 14, 2007 Weren't the Jewel's of Helen taken to the USSR after WWII and then returned in the '90s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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