“However, in 1967 in Germany, two men, named Lux and Braunstein, discovered that in some old paintings produced in Italy, lead white also contained low quantities of silver just like modern material. They believed that the higher concentrations of silver in lead white were typical of Dutch and Flemish painters while the lower concentrations were typical of Italian paintings of about the same age.
“The whole case is still unsettled because not enough measurements have been made to show how reliable this method can be. That is, no one knows if samples of paint from several paintings by one artist would all have the same pattern of impurities in the same pigment. It may be that of the many pigments present in an artist’s paintings only a few will be suitable for use in this ‘fingerprinting’ method.”
Quartz vials (right) containing samples are sealed in the aluminum can on the left. They are then bombarded with neutrons in a reactor like the one in the picture below.
“It sounds complicated,” said Bill.
“It is, and it’s going to take years of work before the method is proven, if it is at all. It may turn out that you can’t tell one artist from another, but only groups of artists like 17th century Dutch painters or 19th century English painters.”
“Tell us something about neutron activation analysis,” said Martin. “How do you measure such small amounts of impurities?”
“The best way to tell you how this works is to show you. How would you boys like to visit a laboratory where neutron activation analysis is being done?”
“Do you have to ask?” said Harley. “Of course we would!”
A few weeks later it was all arranged. At a laboratory close by a nuclear reactor, the boys watched a radiochemist place a few specks of material inside small quartz tubes that were then sealed. The tubes were put in an aluminum can and placed in the nuclear reactor. The can was fastened on the end of a long pole that was then submerged in a deep pool of water. At the bottom of the pool the boys could see a bright blue glow.