In 1998, an ancient copy of a 174-page text by the third century mathematician Archimedes sold for $2 million at Christie?s auction house to an anonymous buyer following a court challenge over ownership with the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which alleged the document was stolen.
After a federal judge in Manhattan ruled Christie?s could sell the work on behalf of a French family that had the manuscript in its possession since 1909, the intense but time-consuming effort began to unravel the secrets of the 10th century manuscript. The palimpsest, a copy of Archimedes? most important breakthroughs, is believed to be the oldest transcription of his writing on geometry and physics, and has been on loan to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore since 1999.
This week at Stanford University, scholars, including Will Noel, the curator of manuscripts and rare books at the Walters, are uncovering the last 12 to 14 pages of work from the rare text.
(A palimpsest is a manuscript consisting of a later writing ? or two ? written over an original writing, first removed to the fullest extent possible).
“We are actually starting to find the remaining text now,” Noel, who is overseeing the project, said by phone Thursday from Los Angeles. “It?s a big deal. Every day we are making new discoveries.
“After a 13th century Christian monk scratched off Archimedes? work, which was not unusual given parchment was hard to find then, a Parisian forger added all this stuff on top, and we?re trying to get back to the original text. It?s definitely possible with a synchrotron X-ray projector, but it may take months or years to translate it all.”
In May 2005, a similar X-ray process was used to detect bits of dust that could be seen with fluorescence imaging help and were translated rather quickly, Noel said.
“This is for broad public interest, to reveal the mind of the greatest mathematician of antiquity,” Noel said. “Western science is predicated on Archimedes? work.”
The palimpsest contains the only surviving copy of “On Floating Bodies” in the original Greek, and is the unique source for the “Method of Mechanical Theorems,” which is being uncovered this week, and “Stomachion,” a game that consisted of 14 flat ivory pieces of various polygonal shapes originally forming a square. The object of the Greek game was to rearrange the pieces to form interesting things such as people, animals or objects.
On Friday, at 1 p.m., a Webcast of the work will be broadcast from Stanford University?s Linear Accelerator Center.
“This will be raw science as it is being revealed,” Noel said. “At least I hope it will be, or I will have egg on my face, and you can quote me on that.”
Archimedes is the father of calculus
Archimedes was the first mathematical physicist and considered by many the best mathematician ever along with Isaac Newton.
Archimedes is considered the father of calculus, the foundation of science and engineering.
He was the first to conceptualize the center of gravity, and the first to wrestle with the concept of infinity.
Legend has it he discovered how to measure volume after sitting down for a bath and immediately recognizing, as water poured over the sides, this displacement gave him a means for an accurate measurement of volume (his own). – Ron Cassie
ON THE WEB
www.archimedespalimpsest.org
1 p.m. Friday, Exploratorium Webcast: www.exploratorium.edu/archimedes/index.html
