Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The Archimedes Palimpsest and Lenox Laser


Lenox Laser, as mentioned in the previous post, is involved and relevant to current events such as the recent Nobel Prize in Physics and the James Webb Telescope.

Photo from the Walter's Flickr site, part of the Lost and Found exhibit about the Archimedes Palimpsest

Another example is the Archimedes Palimpsest at Baltimore's Walters Art Museum. It is on a special exhibit right now until January 2012, and, believes it or not, Lenox Laser was involved with this as well! Lenox Laser was involved in the key science that allowed them to see past the monk's writings and read Archimedes' instead. SLAC was the organization that was heading up the research to better read the obscured text, and they contacted Lenox Laser for the special tungsten part.

From our earlier blog post about the Archimedes Palimpsest from 2006- it explains Lenox Laser's key role.

The Archimedes Palimpsest writings lingered unseen for centuries, seemingly purged from the documents forever, until Professor Heiburg began to review small scrawls beneath the visible text. At SLAC, a revolutionary modern analysis of the writing medium has been made - revealing they do contain historically important information left behind by Archimedes, Hidden from the naked eye.When confronted with an engineering challenge involving their Synchrotron X-Ray source, SLAC issued a request to Lenox Laser to produce microscopic laser-drilled holes in thin Tungsten film. These small apertures would prove critical to the team's success in uncovering the Palimpsest's "hidden treasure".

Here is the website about the ancient text: www.archimedespalimpsest.org
and the Walters Art Museum: thewalters.org

Nobel Physics Prizes and 2nd International Light Seminar

From left to right: Joseph d'Entremont, Alex Dudelzak, Greg Solyar, John Mather, and Reza Sarhangi
Earlier this month, on October 4, we had Dr John C Mather speak at our 2nd International Light Seminar. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for his part in the COBE mission regarding the Big Bang theory and the expansion of the universe.

On that very day, the Nobel Prize in Physics was given to another group of scientists also doing work on dark matter and the expansion of the universe, showing that it was in fact rapidly expanding, not slowing down as previously thought. You can read more about this year's Nobel prize in their press release here. Dr Mather alluded to the recent prize and their work in his talk since it related specifically to the things he has studied. For Dr Mather's talk, visit our website and click on "Light Seminar", or click here.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

2nd International Light Seminar (October 4, 2011)

Having a good timeEntrance to Lenox Laser HallMather Bio30th Anniversary pen
Shot of the HallGreg Solyar- presenterDr Dudelzak talkGreg Solyar and Joseph d'Entremont
RudyDr Dudelzak speaks with a guestJoseph speaks with some guestsJoseph, Sarhangi, and guests
Dr Mather and Prof Sarhangi talkJoseph, Peggy, and Dr WoodProfessor Sarhangi and Joseph d'EntremontDr Mather, Greg, Prof Sarhangi, and JosephTour of Lenox LaserGuests mingling

2nd International Light Seminar

Yesterday was our 2nd International Light Seminar, and it went very well! Everyone enjoyed themselves and learned something new. The keynote speaker, Dr John C Mather, arrived just before lunch and graciously spent the rest of the afternoon with us. We are in the process of downloading the pictures, video, and other material and will be posting them on here and our Flickr site as soon as we can.

~Liesl