Archimedes Palimpsest Video, News and Links

Press releases, news coverage, television, radio, webcasts, talks, and books about the Archimedes Palimpsest

• “The Palimpsest Texts Revealed.”

  The oldest Google Book in the world.

• Noel, William. “The Archimedes Codex.” Book TV, Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network 2, December 14, 2007. Television program.

  William Noel, Co-author, “The Archimedes Codex”
  Authors: Reviel Netz; William Noel
  About the Program — In October of 1998 at an auction at Christie's in New York, an anonymous American book collector purchased a 13th century prayer book for 2 million dollars. The prayer book is a palimpsest; a book that was written over older words that had been scrapped off the animal skin or parchment pages. In this case, the prayer book was written over 10th century manuscript copies of treatises by ancient Greek mathmatician Archimedes (287-212BC). The anonymous bidder deposited the manuscript with the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and has funded a 10 year project to read the works under the prayer book. Along with discovering lost works by Archimedes, other ancient texts previously thought lost have been discovered.

• “‘Se me ocurrió analizar con el sincrotrón la tinta del manuscrito de Arquímedes.’” El País (Spain), May 16, 2007. In Spanish.

• Morelle, Rebecca. “Early Commentary on Aristotle's Categories Found in Palimpsest: Text Reveals More Ancient Secrets.” British Broadcasting Corporation News, April 26, 2007.

  Experts are "lost for words" to have found that a medieval prayer book has yielded yet another key ancient text buried within its parchment. Works by mathematician Archimedes and the politician Hyperides had already been found buried within the book, known as the Archimedes Palimpsest. But now advanced imaging technology has revealed a third text - a commentary on the philosopher Aristotle.

• Miller, Mary K. “Reading Between the Lines.” Smithsonian, March 2007.

• Chong, Jia-Rui. “13th Century Text Hides Words of Archimedes.” Los Angeles Times, December 26, 2006.

• Lee, Felicia R. “A Layered Look Reveals Ancient Greek Texts.” New York Times, November 27, 2006.

• Associated Press. “Atomic Scientists Revealing Archimedes' Hidden Writings.” Fox News, August 9, 2006.

• Associated Press. “Beams Reveal Archimedes' Hidden Writings.” KLTV American Broadcasting Company 7, August 7, 2006.

• Associated Press. “X-Rays Reveal Archimedes' Hidden Writings.” National Broadcasting Company News, August 7, 2006.

• “Greece: X-Rays Reveal Defaced Genius of Archimedes.” Zante Web (United Kingdom), August 7, 2006.

• “Technology Helping Uncover Manuscript by Mathematician.” Taipei Times, August 6, 2006.

• Associated Press. “Beams Reveal Archimedes' Hidden Writings.” USA Today, August 5, 2006.

• Associated Press. “X-Rays Reveal Archimedes' Hidden Writings.” Live Science, August 5, 2006.

• “Archimedes' Hidden Writings Revealed with Particle Accelerator.” China Post, August 5, 2006.

• “Beaming Up Archimedes Hidden Text.” Wired News, August 5, 2006.

• “X-Ray Beam Reveals Ancient Archimedes' Writings.” CTV.ca, August 5, 2006.

• Exploratorium. “The Evidence Project Presents Ancient Writings Revealed!” Webcast, McBean Auditorium, August 4, 2006, 4 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

  Join us at the Exploratorium or online as we watch ancient text revealed and read for the first time in a thousand years! Archimedes was one of the world's greatest scientific and mathematical minds. His thoughts were inscribed on goatskin parchment, but the letters and diagrams were scraped off and written over by Greek monks in the Middle Ages. Now, using an intense x-ray beam generated at Stanford University's linear accelerator, some of the original Greek text will be revealed for the first time in the modern world.

• Castelvecchi, Davide. “Archimedes' Secrets Revealed by Atom Smasher.” National Geographic Online, August 3, 2006.

• Davidson, Keay. “High Tech Tool Reveals Essays of Archimedes.” San Francisco Chronicle, August 3, 2006.

• Highfield, Roger. “Eureka! X-Ray Vision Helps Decipher Archimedes's Words of Wisdom.” The Daily Telegraph, August 3, 2006.

  Also published in the New York Sun.

• Roberts, Geneviève. “Eureka! Ancient Works by Archimedes Rediscovered.” The Independent, August 3, 2006.

• United Press International. “X-Rays Illuminate Archimedes Writings.” August 3, 2006.

• Associated Press. “Stanford Scientists Analyze Ancient Greek Document.” American Broadcasting Company 7 News, KGO, San Francisco, August 2, 2006.

• Fildes, Jonathan. “X-Rays Reveal Archimedes Secrets.” British Broadcasting Corporation News, August 2, 2006.

  This story was the most popular story on the BBC site, on Thursday it was listed as the most popular story of the past five days – though only live for two days.

• “Slashback: Archimedes Gets a Webcast.” Slashdot, August 2, 2006.

• Associated Press. “Copies of Archimedes' Writings Revealed with Particle Accelerator.” KESQ NewsChannel 3, Palm Springs, California, August 2006.

• Hoffman, Ian. “Prayer Book Reveals Secrets.” San Mateo County Times, August 2006.

• Krieger, Lisa. “Revealing Secrets of Archimedes.” San Jose Mercury News, August 2006.

  The article was the top feature on the Mercury News home page, the top story on the online News page and was the front cover story of the Peninsula section of the SJ Mercury's print edition.

• “John Fowler Reports on Scientists Using X-Rays to Decipher Ancient Archimedes Texts.” KTVU San Francisco, August 2006. Video.

• “Reading the Invisible.” The Economist, August 2006.

• Cebrián, Helena. “Rayos X para Arquímedes (“X-Rays for Archimedes”).” El País (Spain), July 30, 2006. In Spanish.

• Kestenbaum, David. “A Prayer Book's Secret: Archimedes Lies Beneath.” All Things Considered, National Public Radio, July 27, 2006. Radio broadcast.

  Why would anyone pay $2 million for a tattered book of Christian prayers from 1200 A.D. The anonymous philanthropist who coughed up the sum in 1998 wasn't lured by the holy writings. He was after the faint ink beneath – mathematical theorems and diagrams from the Greek scholar Archimedes, who lived more than 2,000 years ago. It's the oldest known copy of his work, but the writings were barely legible. But now, a new restoration technique may make it possible to recover all of Archimedes' original text.

• Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. “Modern Technology Reveals Ancient Science.” Press release, July 27, 2006.

• Archimedes Palimpsest Images Data Sheet. Media center press kit, March 18, 2006.

  Six years of imaging has yielded large amounts of imaging data on the Archimedes Palimpsest, in addition to conservation data. For details on the size of the Archimedes images and the total data set, please see the data sheet. Additional information on the data, metadata and standards will be added at a later date for information providers and libraries interested in hosting copies of the Archimedes Palimpsest data set.

• “„Heureka!“ in San Francisco.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany), 2006. In German.

• The Walters Art Museum. “With X-Ray Florescence Imaging, New Ability to Read Previously Unknown Mathematical Treatises in Archimedes Palimpsest.” Press release, May 24, 2005.

• Dominguez, Alex. “Accelerator Deciphers Archimedes.” Associated Press, May 22, 2005.

• Mathematical Association of America. “The Loculus of Archimedes, Solved.” November 17, 2003.

• Infinite Secrets: The Archimedes Palimpsest. NOVA, Public Broadcasting Service, September 2003. Television program.

• Alemozafar, Ali. “Profs Say Ancient Greeks Used Concept of Infinity.” Stanford Daily, November 13, 2002.

• “Archimedes' Secret.” Science and Nature, British Broadcasting Corporation 2, March 14, 2002. Television program.

• Gravitz, Lauren. “Lasers Find New Sums in Very Old Math.” Christian Science Monitor, July 13, 2000.

• “Archimedes Unbound.” American Scientist, July–August 1999.