Posted on 06/08/2005 11:21:50 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A long-obscured transcription of Archimedes' mathematical theories has been brought to light through x-rays, US scientists say.
The 1000-year-old parchment, made of goatskin, contains Archimedes' original work, which was written in the 3rd century BC but copied down by a 10th century scribe.
The manuscript includes the only copy in the original Greek of the treatise "Method of Mechanical Theorems", in which the Greek mathematician, physicist, and inventor describes how he developed his mathematical theorems using mechanical means.
It is also the only source in the original Greek of Archimedes' theory of flotation of bodies.
In the 12th century parchment was hard to come by, so it was re-used.
In this case, the ink on the goatskin parchment was erased with a weak acid, most likely lemon juice, and scraped off with a pumice stone so it could be rewritten as a prayer book.
The manuscript is called the Archimedes Palimpsest. Coming from the Greek, the word palimpsest indicates a writing material that has been re-used by erasing earlier writing.
In around 1922 to 1924, the book disappeared from a monastery in Constantinople. It resurfaced in the possession of a Parisian collector in the 1930s. Finally, it was bought at auction in 1998.
The anonymous buyer funded research to reveal the hidden text.
New and old methods
A large part of the text has been read using traditional means such as magnifying glasses and ultraviolet light.
But other parts were impossible to decipher; some pages were painted over with Byzantine religious images, which turned out to be 20th century forgeries intended to increase the value of the prayer book.
"The whole Archimedes Palimpsest contains 174 pages. About 20 to 30% of the text has not been identified. We hope to image a large portion of this unidentified text over the next several years," says physicist Uwe Bergmann of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California.
After learning from a magazine article that the ink on the original manuscript contained iron, Bergmann realised he could use a method called x-ray fluorescence imaging to make the iron pigments in the original ink glow, thus allowing the text to emerge.
The beam, which has the size of a human hair, causes the iron in the ink to fluoresce.
A computer then analyses the pattern of fluorescence as the beam scans across the page.
Scholars have not yet finished reading and translating the text. But Bergmann says the scanning part of the project has been successful.
Stanford University classics and philosophy professor Reviel Netz says the scanning technology is "very promising".
"For the problem of reading through leaves with forged paintings it is certainly indispensable, and it is likely to be crucial all round," says
Great mathematician
Born in Sicily in 287 BC, Archimedes is considered the greatest mathematician and physicist in the ancient world. Legends about his life abound.
He is credited with discovering the principle of water displacement while sitting in his tub. Delighted at his discovery, he supposedly yelled "Eureka!" or "I have found it", and ran naked through the streets.
Archimedes died about 212 BC when Roman invaders captured Syracuse. Legend says he was killed because he was too busy doing calculations to obey a Roman soldier's order.
The Archimedes Palimpsest team plans to decipher the entire manuscript, then catalogue and transcribe it digitally.
An interactive DVD is slated for 2008, when the researchers hope to exhibit a few pages before returning the parchment to its owner.
Eureka!
I'm glad Archimedes never met Michael Moore-he might have been too discouraged to write it down!
simply cool
I was hoping this would go well. Time will tell, however, if we can make sense of what the scanning revealed.
But he could have then written about the displacement of water by massive bodies.
We stand on the shoulders of giants. Building on the works of those before us. Obligated to those yet unborn to do our part. I am amazed each day the things that can be learned.
I'm amazed on how much ISN'T being learned in schools these days, and what is learned shouldn't be.
Or he might have discovered the works of Cantor 2000 years early.
I know that the Romans used Abacci (a digital counting mechanism, in fact) and transcribed everything using Roman Numerals.
What did the Greeks use?
I'm sure if you polled the students in your typical high school and asked who "Archimedes" is, the #1 response would be "Does he have a new rap CD out"?
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Archimedes used analog computers. Interesting. Who would be his modern equivalent? The artillery monk would be my nomination.
Thanks!
Updated translation:
although BS floats, the DIMS continue to sink!
Thanks for the ping!
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