Magnetic Insights into Cultural Heritage

Magnetic resonance is best known for its unique capabilities of imaging in diagnostic medicine and molecular structure determination in analytical chemistry. In the past two decades, the instrumentation has been shrunk to tabletop and even shoebox size. One example is the NMR-MOUSE, a portable sensor for nondestructive materials testing. This sensor has been developed and tested within three successive collaborative research projects of the European Community on the analysis of Cultural Heritage. It provides novel insights into a wide range of objects in the treasure of our cultural heritage such as master paintings, the craftsmanship behind the paint layer of frescoes in Herculaneum, and the bones of Ötzi the Iceman and Charlemagne. These and other magnetic insights will be reported.
hm 4/1/15