We reveal damaged, erased, and obstructed writings in ancient manuscripts to learn about the genius of their authors and their cultural impact. We image chemical ghosts of fossils to explore prehistoric creatures and their preservation. Synchrotron rapid-scan imaging and spectroscopy provide us the microscopic X-ray vision.
Selected Publications
Georgiou et al, Disentangling the Chemistry of Australian Plant Exudates from a Unique Historical Collection, Proc Natl Acad Sci, 119, e2116021119 (2022) pdf
Bergmann et al, Chemical Mapping of Ancient Artifacts and Fossils with X-Ray Spectroscopy. In: Jaeschke E., Khan S., Schneider J., Hastings J. (eds) Synchrotron Light Sources and Free-Electron Lasers. Springer, Cham (2019) pdf
Georgiou et al, Carbon speciation in organic fossils using 2D to 3D x-ray Raman multispectral imaging, Science Advances, 5, eaaw5019 (2019) pdf
Manning et al, Pheomelanin pigment remnants mapped in fossils of extinct mammals, Nature Communications, 10, 2250 (2019) pdf
Wogelius et al, Trace metals as biomarkers for Eumelanin Pigment in the Fossil Record, Science, 333, 1622-1626 (2011) pdf
Bergmann et al, Archaeopteryx feathers and bone chemistry fully revealed via synchrotron imaging, Proc Natl Acad Sci, 107, (20) 9060-9065 (2010) pdf
Bergmann, Archimedes brought to light, Physics World, 20, No 11, pages 39-42, (November 2007) pdf
In The News
September 7, 2023
The History of the Printing Press under an X-Ray Microscope | Physics Magazine
August 8, 2023
Can X-Rays Trace the Origins of Printing? | PBS Special
July 25, 2022
Stanford linear accelerator probes: Did Gutenberg really invent printing? | The Mercury News
July 24, 2022
SLAC Project Helps Understand Historic Documents in Unique Way | NBC
May 23, 2019
Seeing Red in the Fossil Record | The New York Times
March 26, 2018
Centuries-Old Manuscript Could Reveal History Of Ancient Roman Treatments | International Business Times
June 11, 2013
Stanford X-ray reveals long-lost notes of historic opera | The Mercury News
May 10, 2010
Fossil reveals early bird plumage | BBC News
August 2, 2006
X-rays reveal Archimedes’ secrets | BBC News