0:00:11.288,0:00:13.948
On January 26th, 2013,

0:00:13.948,0:00:17.508
a band of al-Qaeda militants[br]entered the ancient city of Timbuktu

0:00:17.508,0:00:20.258
on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.

0:00:20.258,0:00:25.768
There they set fire to a medieval library[br]of 30,000 manuscripts

0:00:25.768,0:00:29.048
written in Arabic[br]and several African languages,

0:00:29.048,0:00:33.038
and ranging in subjects[br]from astronomy to geography,

0:00:33.038,0:00:34.788
history to medicine,

0:00:34.788,0:00:36.528
including one book which records

0:00:36.528,0:00:40.958
perhaps the first treatment[br]for male erectile dysfunction.

0:00:41.808,0:00:43.718
Unknown in the West,

0:00:43.718,0:00:47.048
this was the collected wisdom[br]of an entire continent,

0:00:47.048,0:00:52.038
the voice of Africa at a time when Africa[br]was thought not to have a voice at all.

0:00:52.514,0:00:55.224
The Mayor of Bamako,[br]who witnessed the event,

0:00:55.224,0:01:00.014
called the burning of the manuscripts[br]a crime against world cultural heritage.

0:01:00.014,0:01:02.283
And he was right, or he would have been,

0:01:02.283,0:01:04.983
if it weren't for the fact[br]that he was also lying.

0:01:05.740,0:01:08.570
In fact, just before,

0:01:08.570,0:01:12.540
African scholars had collected[br]a random assortment of old books

0:01:12.540,0:01:15.240
and left them out[br]for the terrorists to burn.

0:01:15.240,0:01:19.510
Today, the collection lies hidden[br]in Bamako, the capital of Mali,

0:01:19.510,0:01:22.190
moldering in the high humidity.

0:01:22.190,0:01:25.770
What was rescued by ruse[br]is now was once again in jeopardy,

0:01:25.770,0:01:27.770
this time by climate.

0:01:27.770,0:01:31.260
But Africa and the far-flung corners[br]of the world are not the only places,

0:01:31.260,0:01:32.500
or even the main places,

0:01:32.500,0:01:36.980
in which manuscripts that could change[br]the history of world culture

0:01:36.980,0:01:38.985
are in jeopardy.

0:01:39.476,0:01:40.356
Several years ago,

0:01:40.356,0:01:44.046
I conducted a survey[br]of European research libraries,

0:01:44.046,0:01:46.306
and discovered that,[br]at the barest minimum,

0:01:46.306,0:01:52.776
there are 30,000,[br]actually 60,000 manuscripts pre-1500

0:01:52.776,0:01:54.556
that are illegible

0:01:54.556,0:02:00.006
because of water damage, fading,[br]mold, and chemical reagents.

0:02:00.422,0:02:03.026
The real number is likely double that.

0:02:03.026,0:02:06.516
That doesn't even count[br]renaissance manuscripts,

0:02:06.516,0:02:08.036
and modern manuscripts,

0:02:08.036,0:02:11.586
and cultural heritage objects,[br]such as maps.

0:02:13.004,0:02:15.774
What if there were a technology

0:02:15.774,0:02:20.375
that could recover[br]these lost and unknown works?

0:02:21.269,0:02:23.739
Imagine worldwide how a trove

0:02:23.739,0:02:28.539
of hundreds of thousands[br]of previously unknown texts

0:02:28.539,0:02:31.739
could radically transform[br]our knowledge of the past.

0:02:33.199,0:02:37.539
Imagine what unknown classics[br]we would discover

0:02:38.132,0:02:42.629
which would rewrite the canons[br]of literature, history, philosophy, music.

0:02:43.267,0:02:46.767
Or more provocatively, that could rewrite[br]our cultural identities,

0:02:46.767,0:02:50.257
building new bridges[br]between people and culture.

0:02:50.882,0:02:53.522
These are the questions[br]that transformed me

0:02:53.522,0:02:56.254
from a medieval scholar,[br]a reader of texts,

0:02:56.254,0:02:58.481
into a textual scientist.

0:02:59.254,0:03:01.764
What an unsatisfying word reader is?

0:03:01.764,0:03:04.024
For me, it conjures up[br]images of passivity,

0:03:04.024,0:03:06.764
of someone sitting idly in an armchair,

0:03:06.764,0:03:10.984
waiting for knowledge[br]to come to him in a neat little parcel.

0:03:10.984,0:03:14.504
How much better is to be[br]a participant in the past,

0:03:14.504,0:03:19.508
an adventurer in an undiscovered country,[br]searching for the hidden text?

0:03:20.744,0:03:23.744
As an academic, I was a mere reader.

0:03:24.231,0:03:26.751
I read and taught the same classics

0:03:26.751,0:03:29.751
that people had been reading and teaching[br]for hundreds of years:

0:03:29.751,0:03:32.751
Virgil, Ovid, Chaucer, Petrarch.

0:03:32.751,0:03:35.001
With every scholarly article[br]that I published,

0:03:35.001,0:03:38.321
I added to human knowledge[br]an ever-diminishing slivers of insight.

0:03:39.900,0:03:43.970
What I wanted to be[br]was an archaeologist of the past,

0:03:43.970,0:03:45.795
a discoverer of literature,

0:03:45.795,0:03:49.345
an Indiana Jones without the whip -[br]or, actually, with the whip.

0:03:49.345,0:03:50.355
(Laughter)

0:03:50.355,0:03:54.045
And I wanted it not just for myself,[br]but I wanted it for my students as well.

0:03:54.045,0:03:57.975
So six years ago, I changed[br]the direction of my career.

0:03:57.975,0:04:00.995
At the time, I was working[br]on "The Chess of Love",

0:04:00.995,0:04:03.795
the last important long poem[br]of the European Middle Ages,

0:04:03.795,0:04:05.525
never to have been edited.

0:04:05.525,0:04:08.525
It wasn't edited because it existed[br]in only one manuscript,

0:04:08.525,0:04:10.275
which was so badly damaged

0:04:10.290,0:04:13.125
during the firebombing of Dresden[br]in World War II

0:04:13.125,0:04:16.265
that generations of scholars[br]had pronounced it lost.

0:04:16.422,0:04:19.785
For five years, I had been working[br]with an ultraviolet lamp,

0:04:19.785,0:04:22.265
trying to recover traces of that writing,

0:04:22.267,0:04:25.025
and I'd gone about as far[br]as the technology of that time

0:04:25.025,0:04:26.245
could actually take me.

0:04:26.245,0:04:28.045
So I did what many people do;

0:04:28.045,0:04:31.065
I went online, and there I learned

0:04:31.238,0:04:36.255
about how multi-spectral imaging[br]had been used to recover 2 lost treatises

0:04:36.255,0:04:40.805
of the famed Greek mathematician[br]Archimedes from a 13th-century palimpsest.

0:04:40.805,0:04:44.265
A palimpsest is a manuscript[br]which has been erased and overwritten.

0:04:45.530,0:04:48.020
So, out of the blue, I decided to write

0:04:48.020,0:04:52.020
to the lead imaging scientist[br]on the Archimedes Palimpsest Project,

0:04:52.020,0:04:55.320
Professor Roger Easton,[br]with a plan and a plea.

0:04:55.320,0:04:57.770
To my surprise, he actually wrote back.

0:04:59.238,0:05:02.948
With his help, I was able to win[br]a grant from the US government

0:05:04.505,0:05:08.515
to build a transportable[br]multispectral imaging lab -

0:05:08.515,0:05:10.815
yes, this is the dirty little secret

0:05:10.815,0:05:13.025
of where your tax dollars[br]are really going -

0:05:13.025,0:05:17.805
and with this lab, I transformed[br]what was a charred and faded mess

0:05:17.805,0:05:20.235
into a new medieval classic.

0:05:20.739,0:05:23.539
So, how does multispectral imaging[br]actually work?

0:05:23.539,0:05:25.749
The idea behind multispectral imaging

0:05:25.749,0:05:27.589
is that something that anyone

0:05:27.589,0:05:30.159
who is familiar[br]with an infrared night-vision goggles

0:05:30.159,0:05:31.519
will immediately appreciate,

0:05:31.519,0:05:34.629
that what we can see invisible light,[br]invisible spectrum of light,

0:05:34.629,0:05:37.759
is only tiny fraction[br]of what's actually there.

0:05:38.511,0:05:40.731
The same is true with invisible writing.

0:05:42.499,0:05:48.920
Our system uses 12 wavelengths of light[br]between the ultraviolet and the infrared.

0:05:50.059,0:05:54.449
These are shown down onto the manuscript[br]from above, from banks of LEDs,

0:05:54.449,0:05:56.279
and another multispectral light source

0:05:56.279,0:05:59.229
which comes up through[br]the individual leaves of the manuscript.

0:05:59.229,0:06:03.959
Up to 35 images per leaf[br]are imaged this way,

0:06:03.959,0:06:05.569
using a high-power digital camera

0:06:05.569,0:06:08.499
equipped with a lens[br]which is made out of quartz.

0:06:08.499,0:06:10.789
There are about 5 of these in the world.

0:06:10.789,0:06:12.849
Once we capture these images,

0:06:12.849,0:06:15.039
we feed them[br]through statistical algorithms

0:06:15.039,0:06:17.269
to further enhance and clarify them,

0:06:17.269,0:06:20.499
using software which is originally[br]designed for satellite images,

0:06:20.499,0:06:25.969
and used by people[br]like geospatial scientists and the CIA.

0:06:25.969,0:06:28.276
The results can be spectacular.

0:06:28.276,0:06:30.306
Some of you may already have heard

0:06:30.306,0:06:32.976
of what's been done[br]for the Dead Sea Scrolls,

0:06:32.976,0:06:35.246
which are slowly gelatinizing.

0:06:35.726,0:06:37.596
Using infrared, we've been able to read

0:06:37.596,0:06:41.246
even the darkest corners[br]of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

0:06:41.961,0:06:43.411
You may not be aware, however,

0:06:43.411,0:06:45.961
of other Biblical texts[br]that are in jeopardy.

0:06:46.459,0:06:51.519
Here, for example, is a leaf[br]from a manuscript that we imaged,

0:06:51.519,0:06:56.518
which is perhaps the most valuable[br]Christian Bible in the world.

0:06:57.332,0:07:03.022
The Codex Vercellensis is the oldest[br]translation of the Gospels into Latin,

0:07:03.022,0:07:05.742
and it dates[br]from the first half of 4th century.

0:07:07.723,0:07:12.523
As you can see, this is the closest[br]we can come to the Bible

0:07:12.523,0:07:17.253
at the time of the foundation[br]of Christendom under Emperor Constantine,

0:07:17.253,0:07:19.813
and at the time[br]of also the Council of Nicaea,

0:07:19.813,0:07:23.073
when the basic creed of Christianity[br]was being agreed upon.

0:07:23.468,0:07:26.548
This manuscript, unfortunately,[br]has been very badly damaged.

0:07:26.548,0:07:31.258
It's damaged because for centuries[br]it has been used and handled

0:07:31.258,0:07:34.028
in swearing-in ceremonies in the church.

0:07:34.028,0:07:37.678
In fact, that purple splotch that you see[br]in the upper right-hand corner

0:07:38.365,0:07:41.268
- upper left-hand corner.[br]Right-hand corner? Yes. -

0:07:41.268,0:07:43.508
... is Aspergillus,

0:07:43.508,0:07:49.748
which is a fungus which originates[br]originally in the unwashed hands

0:07:49.748,0:07:51.938
of a person with tuberculosis.

0:07:52.554,0:07:54.614
Our imaging has enabled me

0:07:54.614,0:07:58.724
to make the first transcription[br]of this manuscript in 250 years.

0:07:59.749,0:08:02.129
Having a lab that can travel[br]to collections

0:08:02.129,0:08:03.859
- to where it's needed, however -

0:08:03.859,0:08:05.519
is only part of the solution.

0:08:05.519,0:08:08.259
The technology is expensive and very rare,

0:08:08.588,0:08:11.499
and the imaging[br]and image processing skills are esoteric.

0:08:11.499,0:08:14.749
That means that mounting recoveries[br]is beyond the reach

0:08:14.749,0:08:18.259
of most researchers[br]and all but the wealthiest institutions.

0:08:18.259,0:08:21.369
That's why I founded the Lazarus Project,

0:08:21.383,0:08:23.779
a non-for-profit initiative

0:08:23.779,0:08:25.919
to bring multispectral imaging

0:08:25.919,0:08:29.919
to individual researchers[br]and smaller institutions

0:08:29.919,0:08:31.739
at little or no cost whatsoever.

0:08:32.494,0:08:34.294
Over the past five years,

0:08:34.294,0:08:38.024
our team of imaging scientists,[br]scholars, and students

0:08:38.024,0:08:40.244
has traveled to seven different countries

0:08:40.244,0:08:41.534
and have recovered

0:08:41.534,0:08:44.054
some of the world's most valuable[br]damaged manuscripts,

0:08:44.054,0:08:47.184
including the Vercelli Book,[br]which is the oldest book of English,

0:08:47.184,0:08:49.764
the Black Book of Carmarthen,[br]the oldest book of Welsh,

0:08:49.764,0:08:53.524
and some of the most valuable[br]earliest Gospels,

0:08:53.524,0:08:56.544
located in now[br]what's the former Soviet Georgia.

0:08:57.749,0:09:00.759
So spectral imaging[br]can recover lost texts.

0:09:01.475,0:09:06.505
More subtly, though, it can recover[br]a second story behind every object,

0:09:06.505,0:09:11.275
the story of how, when,[br]and by whom a text was created,

0:09:11.275,0:09:14.955
and sometimes, what the author[br]was thinking at the time he wrote.

0:09:15.727,0:09:18.677
Take, for example, a draft[br]of the Declaration of Independence,

0:09:18.677,0:09:21.247
written in Thomas Jefferson's own hand,

0:09:21.247,0:09:23.727
which some colleagues of mine[br]imaged a few years ago

0:09:23.727,0:09:25.467
at the Library of Congress.

0:09:25.467,0:09:26.757
Curators had noticed

0:09:26.757,0:09:30.487
that one word throughout[br]had been scratched out and overwritten.

0:09:30.487,0:09:33.247
The word overwritten was "citizens".

0:09:33.247,0:09:36.267
Perhaps you can guess[br]what the word underneath was.

0:09:36.995,0:09:38.236
"Subjects".

0:09:38.504,0:09:41.304
There, ladies and gentlemen,[br]is American democracy

0:09:41.304,0:09:43.774
evolving under the hand[br]of Thomas Jefferson.

0:09:44.247,0:09:48.016
Or consider the 1491 Martellus Map,

0:09:48.247,0:09:50.767
which we imaged[br]at Yale's Beinecke Library.

0:09:50.767,0:09:53.517
This was the map[br]that Columbus likely consulted

0:09:53.517,0:09:55.287
before he traveled to the New World,

0:09:55.287,0:09:57.907
and which gave him his idea[br]of what Asia looked like

0:09:57.907,0:09:59.712
and where Japan was located.

0:10:01.218,0:10:02.918
The problem with this map

0:10:02.920,0:10:06.508
is that its inks and pigments[br]had so degraded over time

0:10:06.508,0:10:08.917
that this large, nearly 7-foot map

0:10:09.495,0:10:12.495
made the world look like a giant desert.

0:10:12.495,0:10:16.005
Until now, we had very little idea,[br]detailed idea, that is,

0:10:16.005,0:10:19.535
of what Columbus knew of the world[br]and how world cultures were represented.

0:10:20.255,0:10:24.245
The main legend of the map[br]was entirely illegible under normal light.

0:10:24.245,0:10:27.255
Ultraviolet did very little for it.

0:10:27.255,0:10:29.725
Multispectral gave us everything.

0:10:30.225,0:10:32.275
In Asia, we learned of monsters

0:10:32.275,0:10:35.905
with ears so long that they could cover[br]the creature's entire body.

0:10:36.491,0:10:41.141
In Africa, about the snake[br]who could cause the ground to smoke.

0:10:42.254,0:10:44.244
Like starlight which can give today

0:10:44.244,0:10:47.614
images of the way the universe[br]looked in the distant past,

0:10:47.614,0:10:50.034
so multispectral light can take us back

0:10:50.034,0:10:53.504
to the first stuttering moments[br]of an object's creation.

0:10:53.504,0:10:57.504
Through this lens, we witnessed[br]the mistakes, the changes of mind,

0:10:57.504,0:11:00.554
the naivetes, young censored thoughts,

0:11:00.554,0:11:02.744
the imperfections of the human imagination

0:11:02.744,0:11:05.784
that allowed these hallowed objects[br]and their authors

0:11:05.784,0:11:10.175
to become more real,[br]that make history closer to us.

0:11:13.744,0:11:15.531
So what about the future?

0:11:15.531,0:11:17.781
There's so much of the past

0:11:17.781,0:11:21.051
and so few people[br]with the skills to rescue it

0:11:21.051,0:11:24.839
before these objects disappear forever.

0:11:25.541,0:11:29.201
That's why I've begun to teach[br]this new hybrid discipline

0:11:29.201,0:11:30.981
that I call textual science,

0:11:30.981,0:11:35.482
a mixture between[br]kind of Indiana Jones meets CSI.

0:11:36.704,0:11:39.004
Textual science is a marriage

0:11:39.004,0:11:41.474
of the traditional skills[br]of the literary scholar -

0:11:41.474,0:11:44.144
the ability to read old languages[br]and old handwriting,

0:11:44.144,0:11:45.694
the knowledge how texts are made

0:11:45.694,0:11:47.904
in order to be able[br]to place and date them -

0:11:47.904,0:11:50.324
with new techniques like imaging science,

0:11:50.324,0:11:52.764
the chemistry of inks and pigments,

0:11:52.764,0:11:55.504
computer-aided optical[br]character recognition.

0:11:56.431,0:11:59.031
Last year, a student in my class,

0:11:59.031,0:12:01.741
a freshman with the background[br]in Latin and Greek

0:12:01.741,0:12:03.771
was image-processing a palimpsest

0:12:03.771,0:12:07.741
that we had photographed[br]at the famous library in Rome.

0:12:07.741,0:12:12.751
As he worked, tiny Greek writing[br]began to appear from behind the text.

0:12:13.713,0:12:15.073
Everyone gathered around,

0:12:15.073,0:12:20.513
and he read a line from a lost work[br]of the Greek comic dramatist Menander.

0:12:21.239,0:12:24.239
This was the first time[br]in well over a thousand years

0:12:24.244,0:12:27.289
that those words[br]had been pronounced aloud.

0:12:27.959,0:12:30.469
In that moment, he became a scholar.

0:12:31.388,0:12:34.496
Ladies and gentlemen,[br]that is the future of the past.

0:12:34.496,0:12:35.516
Thank you very much.

0:12:35.516,0:12:37.156
(Applause)