Ted Talks : “How I’m discovering the secrets of ancient texts”

Hello guys !!

I have chosen to watch a video called “How I’m discovering the secrets of ancient texts”. This video deals with a man, who was passionate about books and literature. He taught the literature but he was frustrated because he thought that there was a limit in the known literature. That’s why he decided to look for ancient documents like books, maps or manuscripts in poor condition to discover their secrets and save him. The most important part of these documents is erased, faded, moldy… Sometimes it’s even charred. But it’s always illegible. The aim of this man is to save these documents and the knowledge inside them.
When he finds some ancient documents (often several centuries years old) he uses infrared and ultraviolet technology to reveal their secrets and allow to read and recover the lost informations. His work is very impressive. Here is an example of his work with one of the oldest translation of Gospels in Latin, from the first half of the fourth century :




He is also at the origin of a non-profit initiative, the Lazarus project. The goal of this project is to bring multispectral imaging to individual researchers. In five years, his team recovered in seven countries some of the most valuable damaged documents like the oldest book of English.
I think that the work of this man and his team is very important. It allows the preservation and the rediscovering of lost knowledge. I’m very impressed by everything he did and I’m very appreciative.

Julie Chartier