Invitation to "Imaging a
future for the past – uncovering lost text from manuscripts” event
Dear members of RIT Croatia
community,
You are cordially invited to
the following events that will take place next week in Dubrovnik (RIT Campus
and Public/Scientific Library). The lectures and workshop on the use of
spectral imaging for the recovery of ancient texts will be delivered by Dr.
Roger Easton, Dr. David Messinger and Tania Kleynhans from RIT Rochester.
Public lectures on Imaging
a future for the past – uncovering lost text from manuscripts
Presented by Dr. Roger Easton
and Dr. David Messinger
• RIT Campus (Room 15) at
14:00 on Monday 18.03.2019.
• Public Library (Ulica od
puča 6) 2nd floor at 18:00 on Monday 18.03.2019. This lecture will be
followed by a reception.
Abstract of the
lecture:
Cultural Heritage Imaging is
a growing field of research into the use of novel imaging techniques to study
historical objects of known or unknown significance. Of particular
interest are imaging techniques that go beyond the capabilities of the
human visual system to discover new information about artifacts, either through
the enhancement of faded or otherwise unreadable text, or through
techniques that study the materials used in the creation and modification of
the objects (i.e., pigments, substrates, tools, etc.). We will be
presenting a high level overview of spectral imaging and how it is used to "see
through” faded, damaged or palimpsested texts. Examples of discoveries made
through spectral imaging will be shown and discussed.
There will be a workshop
on the use of spectral imaging technology
Presented by Dr. Roger
Easton, Dr. David Messinger and Tania Kleynhans
• Tuesday 19.03.2019. (10AM to 3PM) at
the Scientific library (Cvijete Zuzorić
4) on the
3rd floor
Abstract of the workshop:
The goal of the historical
spectral imaging workshop is to familiarize librarians, curators and scholars
with the capabilities (and shortcomings) of spectral imaging. The workshop will
consist or short presentations about successful recovery of texts, the basics
of spectral imaging, and a high-level overview of how these imaging systems
works. We will be imaging a handful of objects from the Scientific library
(parchment fragments, possible palimpsested material, faded text) to explain
and demonstrate the imaging process. This will be followed by a discussion and
demonstration of how to process the collected images so that we (possibly) can
uncover text.
Biographies of the
presenters
Dr. Messinger received a
Bachelors degree in Physics from Clarkson University and a Ph.D. in
Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is currently
a Professor, the Xerox Chair in Imaging Science, and Director of the
Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute
of Technology where he previously was the Director of the Digital Imaging
and Remote Sensing Laboratory. He is also an Associate Editor of the
journal Optical Engineering and a Senior Member of SPIE. He has
published over 150 scholarly articles. His personal
research focuses on projects related to remotely sensed spectral
image analysis using physics-based approaches and advanced
mathematical techniques with applications ranging from precision
agriculture to analysis of historical documents and artifacts.
Tania Kleynhans received a Bachelors degree in Mathematics and Operational
Research from the University of South Africa, and an M.S. in Imaging Science at
the Rochester Institute of Technology. Currently, Tania Kleynhans is an
Associate Scientist at the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science, RIT.
She leads the Rochester Cultural Heritage Imaging, Visualization and Education
group (R-CHIVE) and is responsible for the organization of the R-CHIVE
conference, assisting student research and coordinating collaboration efforts.
She assists in various research projects with involvement in measuring ink and
material spectra, updating scripts on the prototype spectral imaging system for
display at exhibitions, and research on application of algorithms to satellite
imagery. Tania is doing her PhD part time on hyperspectral image analysis of
illuminated manuscripts and paintings.
Dr. Roger Easton has been on
the faculty of the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science since 1986
after receiving his Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona.
He has worked to apply modern imaging technologies to the study of historical
manuscripts since 1995, particularly the development of new image processing
procedures for this task. He led the imaging team for the Archimedes Palimpsest
project, and has been a team member on projects to image the David Livingstone
Nyangwe Diaries, the Syriac-Galen palimpsest, "Les Échéz d'Amours" in
Dresden, the Scythica Vindobonensia in Vienna, the ca. 1491 world map by
Henricus Martellus Germanus at Yale University, and the Petermann II Nachtrag
24 palimpsest in Berlin, among others.
