Students at RIT are making international news for a discovery they made related to medieval manuscripts. The students developed a system that uses ultraviolet-florescence imaging to read text that's invisible to the naked eye. In their process, they discovered lost text on a 15th-century manuscript, revealing it was a palimpsest -- a manuscript on parchment with multiple layers of writing. The discovery and the system the students created will help libraries around the world learn more about medieval texts and collections.
The RIT project was a collaboration with the University of Rochester, where faculty and students are also making advancements in textual science. Is Rochester becoming a hub for this kind of work?
Our guests discuss the recent project, its impact, and what's next in the field of textual science locally and around the world. Our guests:
- Roger Easton, professor at RIT's Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science
- Gregory Heyworth, associate professor of English and Textual Science at the University of Rochester
- Lisa Enochs, second-year student double majoring in motion picture science and imaging science at RIT
- Zoë LaLena, second-year imaging science student at RIT
- Madeline Rose, Take 5 Scholar in English literature, computational linguistics, and classical mythology and ethics at the University of Rochester