Gregory Heyworth: How I'm discovering the secrets of ancient texts
גרגורי הייוורת': איך אני מגלה את הסודות של הטקסטים העתיקים
Gregory Heyworth uses spectral imaging technology to uncover lost classics that could rewrite history. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
entered the ancient city of Timbuktu
נכנסה לעיר העתיקה טימבוקטו
of 30,000 manuscripts
בת 30,000 כתבים מימי הביניים
and several African languages
to geography, history to medicine,
היסטוריה ורפואה,
for male erectile dysfunction.
of an entire continent,
was thought not to have a voice at all.
לא היה קול משלה בכלל.
who witnessed the event,
for the fact that he was also lying.
בשל העובדה שהוא גם שיקר.
a random assortment of old books
אוסף אקראי של ספרים ישנים
for the terrorists to burn.
lies hidden in Bamako,
corners of the world,
or even the main places
או אפילו המקומות העיקריים
the history of world culture
של התרבות העולמית
a survey of European research libraries
של ספריות מחקר ארופאיות
at the barest minimum,
because of water damage,
and modern manuscripts
objects such as maps.
these lost and unknown works?
האבודות והלא ידועות?
how a trove of hundreds of thousands
של מאות אלפי
our knowledge of the past.
we would discover
of literature, history,
של הספרות, ההסטוריה,
rewrite our cultural identities,
את הזהויות התרבויות שלנו,
between people and culture.
that transformed me
a reader of texts,
images of passivity,
a participant in the past,
and teaching for hundreds of years --
that I published
in ever-diminishing slivers of insight.
קטנה יותר ויותר של תובנה.
but I wanted it for my students as well.
אלא רציתי את זה גם לסטודנטים שלי.
I changed the direction of my career.
on "The Chess of Love,"
of the European Middle Ages
של אירופה של ימי הביניים
it existed in only one manuscript
שהיא היתה קיימת בכתב יד אחד בלבד
during the firebombing of Dresden
had pronounced it lost.
with an ultraviolet lamp
as technology at the time
to recover two lost treatises
כדי לשחזר את שתי המסות האבודות
mathematician Archimedes
which has been erased and overwritten.
to the lead imaging scientist
he actually wrote back.
to win a grant from the US government
במענק ממשלת ארצות הברית
multispectral imaging lab,
what was a charred and faded mess
הפכתי את מה שהיה בלגן חרוך ודהוי
imaging actually work?
behind multispectral imaging
with infrared night vision goggles
ראיית לילה אינפרא אדומה
in the visible spectrum of light
of what's actually there.
onto the manuscript from above
the individual leaves of the manuscript.
per leaf are imaged this way
equipped with a lens
of these in the world.
statistical algorithms
designed for satellite images
like geospatial scientists
of what's been done
to read even the darkest corners
לקרוא אפילו בפינות הכי חשוכות
that are in jeopardy.
is a leaf from a manuscript
Christian Bible in the world.
בעל הערך הכי גבוה בעולם.
translation of the Gospels into Latin,
של הבשורה ללטינית,
of the fourth century.
of the foundation of Christendom
of the Council of Nicaea,
was being agreed upon.
has been very badly damaged,
ניזוק באופן מאוד קשה,
that you see in the upper left hand corner
בפינה השמאלית העליונה
to make the first transcription
to collections where it's needed, however,
לאוספים בהם היא נדרשת, עם זאת,
processing skills are esoteric.
and all but the wealthiest institutions.
ורק למכונים העשירים ביותר.
to individual researchers
לחוקרים יחידים
at little or no cost whatsoever.
או לגמרי בחינם.
scholars and students
מלומדים וסטודנטים
most valuable damaged manuscripts,
בעלי הערך הגבוה בעולם,
which is the oldest book of English,
הכי עתיק באנגלית,
the oldest book of Welsh,
הספר הכי עתיק בוולשית,
earliest Gospels
הגבוה ביותר והכי מוקדמות
the former Soviet Georgia.
היא גאורגיה הסובייטית לשעבר.
can recover lost texts.
יכול לשחזר טקסטים אבודים.
a second story behind every object,
הוא יכול לשחזר סיפור שני מאחורי כל עצם,
and by whom a text was created,
was thinking at the time he wrote.
חשב באותו זמן שכתב אותו.
of the Declaration of Independence
imaged a few years ago
that one word throughout
what the word underneath was.
מה המילה שהיתה מתחתיה.
is American democracy
נמצאת הדמוקרטיה האמריקאית
of Thomas Jefferson.
at Yale's Beinecke Library.
that Columbus likely consulted
of what Asia looked like
is that its inks and pigments
detailed idea, that is,
מושג מפורט,
was entirely illegible under normal light.
היה לגמרי בלתי קריא תחת אור רגיל.
with ears so long
עם אוזניים ארוכות כל כך
the creature's entire body.
who could cause the ground to smoke.
looked in the distant past,
to the first stuttering moments
לרגעים המהוססים הראשונים
the mistakes, the changes of mind,
and their authors
with the skills to rescue it
this new hybrid discipline
את הדיסיפלינות ההיברידיות החדשות האלו
of a literary scholar --
and old handwriting,
to place and date them --
character recognition.
at a famous library in Rome.
began to appear from behind the text.
התחיל להופיע מאחורי הטקסט.
in well over a thousand years
had been pronounced aloud.
that is the future of the past.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Gregory Heyworth - Textual scientistGregory Heyworth uses spectral imaging technology to uncover lost classics that could rewrite history.
Why you should listen
Gregory Heyworth is associate professor of English at the University of Mississippi. He is a medievalist and founder of the discipline of textual science.
Professor Heyworth directs the Lazarus Project, a not-for-profit initiative to restore damaged and illegible cultural heritage objects, especially manuscripts and maps, using spectral imaging technology. He has helped recover numerous important objects including the Vercelli Book and the 1491 Martellus Map.
Currently he is working on a project to recover the manuscript fragments of the lost Cathedral Library of Chartres, France, bombed in WWII.
Gregory Heyworth | Speaker | TED.com