Pfaudler Lecture Series - Multispectral Imaging Uncovers Long-Lost Historical Texts and Artifacts' Hidden Features

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David Messinger, Ph.D., Professor, and the Xerox Chair in Imaging Science at Rochester
Institute of Technology (RIT)

A significant amountof recorded history was written, or drawn, by hand using available materialssuch as papyrus, animal skin for parchment, and various minerals, plants, andother items to produce inks and pigments. However due to such impactfulissues as the passage of time, water or mold damage, or intentional erasure,much of that material is lost to visual inspection; we can no longer seeit. Since the mid-1990s faculty, staff, and students in the Chester F.Carlson Center for Imaging Science at RIT have been developing and usingadvanced imaging systems to aid scholars in the study of culturally andhistorically significant artifacts such as manuscripts and maps. Dr. Messingerwill present some of this work using multispectral imaging (camera systems thatimage in 10s of colors, collecting light outside the sensitivity of the humanvisual system) to study cultural heritage artifacts. By collecting images usingvisible, ultraviolet, and infrared light, and by using advanced imageprocessing techniques, (sometimes) we can bring text and other features back tovisibility, allowing scholars the chance to study these long-lost texts. Wehave imaged artifacts in libraries, archives, and museums around the world,including at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the Vatican, St.Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai, and many other places. He will introducethe technology and focus on results from several medieval manuscripts and theGough Map of Great Britain, c. 1390 whose origin, creator, and methods ofcartography are largely unknown.