Bridging The Worlds Of Art And Science

Bridging The Worlds Of Art And Science (NAPSA)—While art lovers may not associate nuclear science with their favorite artwork, nuclear technology is helping to preserve cultural works around the globe. For instance, the architecture and art collections at St. Vitus Photo by Eric Bescher for the Getty Institute Cathedral attract millions of visitors to the Czech Republic’s largest church each year. The richly colored “Last Judgment Mosaic” remains one of the cathedral’s artistic treasures, in part because of nuclear technologies used to conserve the artwork. Completed in 1371, this exterior monument of a million glass tiles requires major renovations every 100 years due to corrosion of the glass. Using a technique called neutron activation analysis, scientists are determining the chemical make up of the glass. Preservationists can then use the data to find the cause of the corrosion and identify long-term solutions. To learn more about nuclear science, visit the Web site at www.ans.org/pi/np/vitus.