Past Event

Archimedes: Accelerator Reveals Ancient Text

Presented by Uwe Bergmann

Archimedes (287-212 BC), who is famous for shouting 'Eureka' (I found it) is considered one of the most brilliant thinkers of all times. The 10th-century parchment document known as the “Archimedes Palimpsest” is the unique source for two of the great Greek's treatises. Some of the writings, hidden under gold forgeries, have recently been revealed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory at SLAC. An intense x-ray beam produced in a particle accelerator causes the iron in original ink, which has been partly erased and covered, to send out a fluorescence glow. A detector records the signal and a digital image showing the ancient writings is produced. Please join us in this fascinating journey of a 1,000-year-old parchment from its origin in the Mediterranean city of Constantinople to a particle accelerator in Menlo Park.

Past Event

Archimedes: Accelerator Reveals Ancient Text

Presented by Uwe Bergmann

Public Lectures
Date
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. PST
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Science and User Support Building (SUSB)
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