Beams for the Past

This is just a coolish quickie. Modern tech makes re-discovery of the past possible, and it's hard not to see how it's worth it to get ever more detail of those who really came before us; not just what one-time authorities want(ed) us to think occurred.

Archimedes Lives!

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Beams reveal Archimedes' hidden writings
By TERENCE CHEA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SAN FRANCISCO -- Previously hidden writings of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes are being uncovered with powerful X-ray beams nearly 800 years after a Christian monk scrubbed off the text and wrote over it with prayers.

Over the past week, researchers at Stanford University's Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park have been using X-rays to decipher a fragile 10th century manuscript that contains the only copies of some of Archimedes' most important works.

The X-rays, generated by a particle accelerator, cause tiny amounts of iron left by the original ink to glow without harming the delicate goatskin parchment.
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