Eureka! Archimedes Revealed

pin_gween writes "The Mercury News has an AP wire that shows science uncovering history. 800 years ago a monk scrubbed the text off a goatskin parchment to write prayers. Nothing unusual there, except the parchment contained writings from a copy of Archimedes' Palimpsest. Now scientists are using x-rays, generated by a particle accelerator, to cause tiny amounts of iron left by the original ink to glow without harming the delicate goatskin parchment. It takes 12 hours to scan one page, then the information is posted online."

Comments

First Post... (Read on)

[jfinke]

So, in other words, you could say that Archimedes had the first post. :) Sorry, could not resist.

Re:First Post... (Read on)

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, but it was modded down by a christian monk...

Re:First Post... (Read on)

[El Torico]

...and now it was just modded up by Stanford University.

Re:First Post... (Read on)

[Aeamarth]

...until some of us metamoderate them!

Eureka!

[colonslashslash]

It is the most difficult imaging challenge on any medieval document because the book is in such terrible condition.

Well, that, and the fact that some monk dude scrawled his love letters to god all over the bloody text!

Re:Eureka!

[CaffeineAddict2001]

God created everything knowing full well what it would do, so anything that happens is as God intended. It's rather moot.

Text read

[Anonymous Coward]

4 Carrots
2 Pints of milk
Brithday card for aunt Mavis

Re:Not quite perfect

[Unknown_monkey]

My last girlfriend complained that I didn't know enough about Heraclitus and that's why she was leaving. I didn't realize she knew that much about ancient greeks. I guess she studied Heraclitus a lot on her own when I fell asleep.

Isn't this against the DMCA?

[Anonymous Coward]

Aren't they circumventing a technological protection system? And this particle accelerator is a "technological device that facilitates the circumvention of access control or copy controls". And then, in typical warez fashion, the pirated content is then disseminated on teh evil intarweb!

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! That otherwise reputable scientists could be party to such a heinous act - oh the horror! The black helicopters must be dispatched after these miscreants forthwith!

Electron bombardment

[SEWilco]

It takes 12 hours to scan one page, then the information is posted online.

Then the information is bombarded with /. access requests.

I had a book like that.

[houghi]

I had a bible on vellum made by some printing company called Gutenberg, but some asshole called Martin Luther scribbeld all these corrections over it, so I used it to light the fireplace.

What Archimedes Forgot

[tonyr1988]

chmod 711

Re:Too cool!

[bitt3n]

Since it was a prayer book, nobody dared, and now we have the data.

Yet again religion is all that protects the march of scientific progress from obliteration at the hands of destructive ignorance.

Report Card Grade "enhancements"

[jgercken]

I can just see my parents employing Reverse XRF Calcium imaging on all my 20 year old report cards to detect those F's that I cleverly transformed into B's. They're going to be soo mad I'll get a beating for sure.

Scientific Undiscovery

[fastgood]

Archimedes revealed? He had already done his best science work naked.

Re:Scientific Undiscovery

[kfg]

He had already done his best science work naked.

Doesn't everybody?

KFG

Maybe they'll uncover Archimedes' long-lost proof

[Eric Smith]

that P=NP.

Excuse me

[MrHanky]

But why should Archimedes give everyone execute rights to his writing?

Re:Too cool!

[Chacham]

Remember that Constantinople (now Istanbul)

Let me get this straight, Istanbul was Constantinople? So, now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople?
I guess its been a long time gone, when they used Constantinople. Hmm... Why did Constantinople get the works? I know i shouldn't ask since it's probably nobody's business but the Turks.