Lecture: "On Virtually Unwrapping the Herculaneum Scrolls"
Brent Seales on using AI & imaging to recover ancient charred papyrus
Event Details
Date
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Time
4:30 p.m.
Location
Description
The Herculaneum papyrus scrolls were buried and carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. This talk tells the story of the virtual unwrapping of the Herculaneum scrolls. Virtual unwrapping offers a restoration pathway enabling us to read texts from objects that are too damaged even to be physically opened. The path we have forged uses large-scale computing, high energy physics, artificial intelligence, and the collective power of a global scientific community.
Cost
Free and open to the public. Supported by University Lectures.
Contact
Accessibility
We value inclusion and access for all participants and are pleased to provide reasonable accommodations for this event. Please email senchyne@wisc.edu to make a disability-related accommodation request. Reasonable effort will be made to support your request.