News and Events

Will Noel, curator of manuscripts and rare books at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, will present "Eureka!  The Archimedes Palimpsest” on Wednesday, February 4, at 4:30 p.m., in the Foster Auditorium, 101 Pattee Library, Penn State University Park campus. A reception will follow in the Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library.

The Archimedes Palimpsest is considered by many to be the most important scientific manuscript ever sold at auction. It was purchased at a Christie's sale in 1998 by an anonymous collector for $2 million. The collector deposited the Palimpsest at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, for exhibition, conservation, imaging, and scholarly study in 1999. Will Noel has been the director of the Archimedes Palimpsest Project since its inception.

The Archimedes Palimpsest contains seven of the Greek mathematician's treatises. The manuscript was written in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) in the 10th century. In the 13th century, the manuscript was taken apart, and the Archimedes text was scraped off. The parchment was reused by a monk who created a prayer book. The Archimedes manuscript then effectively disappeared. Since 1999, intense efforts have been made to retrieve the Archimedes text. Many techniques have been employed, including multispectral imaging, x-ray florescence imaging, and synchrotron x-ray scanning at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California. The imaging efforts have led to a re-evaluation of the work of Archimedes and to the retrieval of entirely new texts from the ancient world.

For more information, contact The Eberly Family Special Collections Library, 814-865-1793.