The next age of discovery is upon us it seems.
A digital arms race has been heating up in recent years as companies pour millions into large-scale digitization projects, including Microsoft’s effort to scan 80,000 books at the British Library and IBM’s multimillion-dollar project to create a virtual version of China’s Forbidden City
By taking high-resolution digital images in 14 different light wavelengths, ranging from infrared to ultraviolet, Oxford scholars are reading bits of papyrus that were discovered in 1898 in an ancient garbage dump in central Egypt
This article about reading and recovering manuscripts that have been damaged or otherwise rendered illegible was brought to my attention by my wife who is the curator of the rare books collection at Israel National Library -It’s too long to post. The technology is fascinating but the findings are even more impressive.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124173896716198603.html