THE MYSTERIOUS BOX:
Nuclear Science and Art
by
Bernard Keisch
Contents
[The Mysterious Box] 2 [How Old Is a Painting?] 11 [Who Was the Artist?] 24 [Other New Tools for Art Authentication] 36 [One Mystery Solved] 42 [Reading List] 44
United States Atomic Energy Commission
Office of Information Services
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 70-606040
1970; 1974 (rev.)
The Author
Dr. Bernard Keisch received his B.S. degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his Ph.D. from Washington University. He is a Senior Fellow with the Division of Sponsored Research of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He is presently engaged in a project that deals with the applications of nuclear technology to art identification. This is jointly sponsored by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission and the National Gallery of Art. Previously he was a nuclear research chemist with the Phillips Petroleum Company and senior scientist at the Nuclear Science and Engineering Corporation. He has contributed articles on art authentication to a number of journals. For the AEC, in addition to this booklet, he has written The Atomic Fingerprint: Neutron Activation Analysis, Secrets of the Past: Nuclear Energy Applications in Art and Archaeology, and Lost Worlds: Nuclear Science and Archaeology.
Nuclear energy is playing a vital role in the life of every man, woman, and child in the United States today. In the years ahead it will affect increasingly all the peoples of the earth. It is essential that all Americans gain an understanding of this vital force if they are to discharge thoughtfully their responsibilities as citizens and if they are to realize fully the myriad benefits that nuclear energy offers them.
The United States Atomic Energy Commission provides this booklet to help you achieve such understanding.