Gregory Heyworth: How I'm discovering the secrets of ancient texts
جريجوري هيوارث: كيف أكتشف أسرار النصوص القديمة
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
"تُمْبُكْتُو" الأثرية.
of 30,000 manuscripts
العصورالوسطي وتضم 30.000 مخطوطة
and several African languages
to geography, history to medicine,
الجغرافيا، التاريخ والطب ،
for male erectile dysfunction.
على الإنتصاب عند الذكور.
of an entire continent,
was thought not to have a voice at all.
أنها بلا صوت على الإطلاق.
who witnessed the event,
والذي كان شاهدًا على الحدث
for the fact that he was also lying.
كان يكذب أيضا ،
a random assortment of old books
من كتب قديمة
for the terrorists to burn.
lies hidden in Bamako,
corners of the world,
or even the main places
حتى الرئيسية
the history of world culture
تاريخ الثقافة في العالم
a survey of European research libraries
عن المكتبات البحثية الأوروبية
at the barest minimum,
because of water damage,
عن المياه،
and modern manuscripts
objects such as maps.
these lost and unknown works?
غير المعروفة؟
how a trove of hundreds of thousands
كيف لكنز دفين من مئات الألاف
our knowledge of the past.
we would discover
أن نكتشفها
of literature, history,
التاريخ
rewrite our cultural identities,
هويتنا الثقافية بطريقة أكثر إثارة.
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.
شظايا من الحكمة المتناقصة دوما.
but I wanted it for my students as well.
ولكن لطلابي أيضا.
I changed the direction of my career.
قمت بتغيير اتجاه حياتي المهنية.
on "The Chess of Love,"
of the European Middle Ages
الوسطي الأوروبية
it existed in only one manuscript
توافر مخطوطة واحدة منها
during the firebombing of Dresden
إلقاء القنابل الحارقة على درسدن
had pronounced it lost.
with an ultraviolet lamp
مصباح أشعة فوق بنفسجية
as technology at the time
to recover two lost treatises
لاستعادة أطروحتين مفقودتين
mathematician Archimedes
"أرخميدس"
which has been erased and overwritten.
مسحت وكتب عليها مرة أخرى
to the lead imaging scientist
عالم التصوير الرئيسي
he actually wrote back.
to win a grant from the US government
مقدمة من الحكومة الأمريكية
multispectral imaging lab,
what was a charred and faded mess
متفحمة وباهته
imaging actually work?
behind multispectral imaging
الأطياف
with infrared night vision goggles
بنظارات الرؤية الليلية
in the visible spectrum of light
في الطيف المرئي للضوء
of what's actually there.
من الموجود فعليا هناك.
الحمراء،
onto the manuscript from above
the individual leaves of the manuscript.
بالمخطوطة.
per leaf are imaged this way
تُصور بتلك الطريقة
equipped with a lens
مزودة بعدسات
of these in the world.
statistical algorithms
designed for satellite images
لصور القمر الصناعي
like geospatial scientists
of what's been done
to read even the darkest corners
قراءة حتى الزوايا الداكنة
that are in jeopardy.
توجد في خطر.
is a leaf from a manuscript
ورقة من مخطوطة
Christian Bible in the world.
قيمة في العالم.
translation of the Gospels into Latin,
لاتينية للأناجيل،
of the fourth century.
of the foundation of Christendom
of the Council of Nicaea,
was being agreed upon.
has been very badly damaged,
إلى أبعد حد،
that you see in the upper left hand corner
تراها أعلي الركن الأيسر
to make the first transcription
صنع أول نسخة
to collections where it's needed, however,
التي تحتاجه، هو على الرغم من ذلك
processing skills are esoteric.
مقصورعلى فئة قليلة/سرية.
and all but the wealthiest institutions.
عدا أغنى المؤسسات.
to individual researchers
للباحثين المستقلين
at little or no cost whatsoever.
بدون تكلفة على الإطلاق.
scholars and students
والطلبة
most valuable damaged manuscripts,
في العالم
which is the oldest book of English,
وهو أقدم كتاب باللغة الإنجليزية،
the oldest book of Welsh,
أقدم بالكتاب باللغة الويلزية،
earliest Gospels
the former Soviet Georgia.
سابقًا بجورجيا السوفيتية.
can recover lost texts.
النصوص المفقودة
a second story behind every object,
قصة جديدة وراء كل موضوع،
and by whom a text was created,
was thinking at the time he wrote.
وقت الكتابة.
of the Declaration of Independence
imaged a few years ago
سنوات
that one word throughout
what the word underneath was.
is American democracy
حيث تتطور الديمقراطية الأمريكية
of Thomas Jefferson.
at Yale's Beinecke Library.
بجامعة ييل.
that Columbus likely consulted
لجأ كولومبوس إليها
of what Asia looked like
التي تبدو عليها آسيا
is that its inks and pigments
detailed idea, that is,
was entirely illegible under normal light.
تماما تحت الضوء العادي.
with ears so long
the creature's entire body.
who could cause the ground to smoke.
الأرض تتدخن.
صورًا
looked in the distant past,
البعيد،
to the first stuttering moments
يعيدنا إلى اللحظات الأولى المتلعثمة
the mistakes, the changes of mind,
وتغييرات الرأي
and their authors
ولكتابها
with the skills to rescue it
لينقذوه
this new hybrid discipline
هذا النظام الهجين الجديد
of a literary scholar --
من باحث الأدب--
and old handwriting,
والكتابة اليدوية القديمة،
to place and date them --
character recognition.
at a famous library in Rome.
بروما.
began to appear from behind the text.
تظهر من وراء النص.
in well over a thousand years
سنة
had been pronounced aloud.
that is the future of the past.
ذلك هو مستقبل الماضي.
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