More than meets the eye: shedding light on medieval manuscripts with imaging science
Lecture by Maggie Anderson
Held by Science in the News from Harvard University on April 28, 2021
Overview: Centuries ago, before the printing press, books and other documents were painstakingly hand-crafted. Over their lifetime, these ‘manuscripts’ were edited, reused, cherished, and neglected. Imaging science can shed light on these documents’ secret pasts. Though invisible to the naked eye, scientists are able to recover faded and damaged writing that was considered lost to time. Focussing on European manuscripts, this talk will include a brief introduction to the history and creation of medieval manuscripts before discussing how imaging science is used to study them. Finally, I will bring together what we have learned with some amazing examples. Come learn about the exciting world of medieval manuscripts and discover.
Margaret Anderson graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2020 with a Bachelors of Science in both Physics and Medieval History. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Physics at Harvard University in the Mundy Group.
More than meets the eye: shedding light on medieval manuscripts with imaging science
Lecture by Maggie Anderson
Held by Science in the News from Harvard University on April 28, 2021
Overview: Centuries ago, before the printing press, books and other documents were painstakingly hand-crafted. Over their lifetime, these ‘manuscripts’ were edited, reused, cherished, and neglected. Imaging science can shed light on these documents’ secret pasts. Though invisible to the naked eye, scientists are able to recover faded and damaged writing that was considered lost to time. Focussing on European manuscripts, this talk will include a brief introduction to the history and creation of medieval manuscripts before discussing how imaging science is used to study them. Finally, I will bring together what we have learned with some amazing examples. Come learn about the exciting world of medieval manuscripts and discover.
Click here to get more details and notes from the lecture.
Margaret Anderson graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2020 with a Bachelors of Science in both Physics and Medieval History. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Physics at Harvard University in the Mundy Group.
Click here to visit the Science in the News website
Top Image: A typical page from the Archimedes Palimpsest after imaging – Wikimedia Commons
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