The secret of Archimedes is answered

American scientists have read a series of obscure pages by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes. Until now, the content of these pages is still a mystery because the original pages of these original pages were covered by other drawings and scripts.

The skin records Archimedes' ideas of being shaved to copy the Bible then covered with golden emulsion (Photo: BBC)

Using a non-destructive technique is the fluorescence of X-rays, scientists can see through the pictures and letters that were added later to read the hidden text. below.

The parchment on the parchment has saved important details about the work of Archimedes, which is considered the foundation of modern mathematics.

The article includes the " Floating Objects " work, the only work written in Greek and the only surviving ancient copies of the work " The balance of planes on mechanical theory "and of" Stomachion "(a Greek game similar to Tangram)

In the treatises, this mathematician who lived in the 3rd century BC used arithmetic to describe the real world.

Will Noel, who is in charge of handwritten works and rare books at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, and director of the "Photo Chemistry " project, says " Archimedes is unlike anyone before. he ".

"There is nothing better than re-reading the wisdom of one of the greatest figures of western civilization . "

"Eighth Wonder"

"Reading Archimedes' works is really a big challenge for the" Photo Chemistry "group."

The original manuscript was copied by an unknown person on a goat skin in the 10th century.

Three centuries later, a Jerusalem monk named Johannes Myronas reused that manuscript to write a new copy of the handwriting called the palimpsest.

Palimpsesting scraping không còn lại với bản đầu gốc để có thể dùng used. To create a book, the monk cut the pages in half and turned sideways.

The palimpsest version is created by removing the original letters so that it can be superimposed on the goat skin. Therefore, the monk cut the goat skin plates in half and wrote them on the other side of them.

In addition, Myronas also reused pages with the same ideas from the works of the 4th century rhetoric Hyperides and other philosophical writings.

Noel described this palimpsest version as " the 8th wonder of the world ".

He said in the BBC News website, " You can't have three unique articles from this ancient world in the same book. That's something that's never been heard of ."

Then the blacksmiths of the 20th century forged into them gold paintings with religious images to try to enhance the value of the series.

As a result, nearly all original writing pages were covered, leaving only faint ink marks written by anonymous copying people in the 10th century.

The light.

The palimpsest version includes pages written from a number of different works.(Photo: BBC)

Previously, this individually owned palimpsest was studied using digital and optical imaging techniques.

However, most pages are still a mystery due to being covered by paint and colorants.

Scientists have now turned to another technique that uses the X-ray fluorescence to find the final details of the work.

This method is used in many sciences including geography and biology. This method is also used by other scientists to decode ancient writing pages.

In August 2005, a team of Cornell University researchers successfully decoded a series of 2000-year-old stone inscriptions that had been eroded over time.

X-ray rays are formed in the form of the Synchrotron - a molecular accelerator that uses electrons to move close to the speed of light to emit very strong "synchrotron" light.

This light covers all types of electromagnetic spectra, including extremely powerful X-rays, a million times stronger than the emission of X-rays used in medical imaging.

Dr Uwe Bergmann of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory in the United States, which carried out the technique, said: "In this fluorescence, we can see this light quite well as when we look at the stars. Why in the evening while for X-ray emission, we hardly see this light, which can be seen as watching stars in the daytime. "

Light allows scientists to look inside at the molecular and atomic levels.

Famous writing pages.

It takes 12 hours to recreate a page. (Photo: BBC) This technique is particularly useful in viewing the palimpsest version because the ink was written by the 10th century copywriter to save the work of Archimedes containing iron.

"When the X-ray encounters an iron atom, it emits a very specific radiation that glows. And if you capture this glow, you can recreate the image that contains the iron in the roll. books " Dr. Bergmann adds.

These famous pages will be displayed on a computer screen, allowing scientists for the first time to see the original manuscript of Archimedes' work that no one has seen in the last 800 years. "

"This is like receiving a fax from the 3rd century BC," Noel said. "It's the most emotional feeling."

It takes 12 hours to reproduce a page because the time when the X-ray beam is equal to the hair of a highly converged person must scan all pages.

The team only had time from here until August 7 because then the accelerator had to be maintained.

In the period from here, they hope to scan 12 to 14 pages and pay special attention to the equipment covered by the forged paintings later.

People can observe the researchers when they publish these very famous ancient writings during an online broadcast at 23 GMT on August 4.

The pages of Archimedes in palimpsest

• The equilibrium state of the plane
• Spiral lines
• circle size
• Spherical and cylindrical
• The buoyancy of things
• The balance of planes on mechanical theory
• Stomachion