Gregory Heyworth: How I'm discovering the secrets of ancient texts
格雷戈里 海沃思: 我如何发掘出古代文字的秘密
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
廷巴克图的古城市
of 30,000 manuscripts
and several African languages
中世纪图书馆
to geography, history to medicine,
for male erectile dysfunction.
治疗男性勃起功能障碍的的书
of an entire continent,
was thought not to have a voice at all.
和整个非洲可以被收集到的智慧
who witnessed the event,
for the fact that he was also lying.
如果他没有撒谎的话
a random assortment of old books
for the terrorists to burn.
lies hidden in Bamako,
corners of the world,
or even the main places
the history of world culture
a survey of European research libraries
我对欧洲研究图书馆进行了一个调查
at the barest minimum,
because of water damage,
and modern manuscripts
objects such as maps.
比如地图
these lost and unknown works?
how a trove of hundreds of thousands
our knowledge of the past.
we would discover
不为人知的名著
of literature, history,
rewrite our cultural identities,
能改写我们的文化身份
between people and culture.
that transformed me
a reader of texts,
一个文本读者
images of passivity,
它会让人感觉很被动
a participant in the past,
岂不是更好
维吉尔, 奥维德, 乔叟, 彼特拉克...
and teaching for hundreds of years --
that I published
in ever-diminishing slivers of insight.
but I wanted it for my students as well.
I changed the direction of my career.
我改变了我事业的方向
on "The Chess of Love,"
of the European Middle Ages
it existed in only one manuscript
during the firebombing of Dresden
在第二次世界大战期间
had pronounced it lost.
with an ultraviolet lamp
我一直尝试用紫外线灯
as technology at the time
to recover two lost treatises
重写本上
mathematician Archimedes
which has been erased and overwritten.
to the lead imaging scientist
he actually wrote back.
他回信了
to win a grant from the US government
我得到了美国政府的津贴
multispectral imaging lab,
光谱成象实验室
what was a charred and faded mess
imaging actually work?
behind multispectral imaging
with infrared night vision goggles
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
that are in jeopardy.
is a leaf from a manuscript
是一本手稿的其中一页
Christian Bible in the world.
translation of the Gospels into Latin,
拉丁福音书的译文
of the fourth century.
of the foundation of Christendom
of the Council of Nicaea,
was being agreed upon.
has been very badly damaged,
that you see in the upper left hand corner
to make the first transcription
to collections where it's needed, however,
processing skills are esoteric.
and all but the wealthiest institutions.
除了一些最富裕的机构
to individual researchers
很少或者没有成本的
at little or no cost whatsoever.
scholars and students
most valuable damaged manuscripts,
which is the oldest book of English,
它是最老的一本英文书
the oldest book of Welsh,
earliest Gospels
the former Soviet Georgia.
can recover lost texts.
a second story behind every object,
所暗藏的第二个故事
and by whom a text was created,
被什么人创造出来
was thinking at the time he wrote.
of the Declaration of Independence
imaged a few years ago
that one word throughout
what the word underneath was.
is American democracy
美国民主政治开始
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,
was entirely illegible under normal light.
在正常光下很难被辨认
with ears so long
the creature's entire body.
who could cause the ground to smoke.
looked in the distant past,
to the first stuttering moments
物体被首先创造出来时
the mistakes, the changes of mind,
思维的改变
and their authors
with the skills to rescue it
this new hybrid discipline
新的混合学科
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.
开始浮现出来
in well over a thousand years
had been pronounced aloud.
that is the future of the past.
这就是关于过去的未来
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