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 RensselaerPolytechnic Institute and his Ph.D. from Washington University.He is a Senior Fellow with the Division of SponsoredResearch of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He ispresently engaged in a project that deals with the applicationsof nuclear technology to art identification. This is jointlysponsored by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission and theNational Gallery of Art. Previously he was a nuclear researchchemist with the Phillips Petroleum Company and seniorscientist at the Nuclear Science and Engineering Corporation.He has contributed articles on art authentication to a numberof journals. For the AEC, in addition to this booklet, he haswritten The Atomic Fingerprint: Neutron Activation Analysis,Secrets of the Past: Nuclear Energy Applications in Artand Archaeology, and Lost Worlds: Nuclear Science andArchaeology.
Nuclear energy is playing a vital role inthe life of every man, woman, and child in theUnited States today. In the years ahead it willaffect increasingly all the peoples of the earth.It is essential that all Americans gain anunderstanding of this vital force if they are todischarge thoughtfully their responsibilities ascitizens and if they are to realize fully themyriad benefits that nuclear energy offersthem.
The United States Atomic Energy Commissionprovides this booklet to help youachieve such understanding.
The Cover
This painting, originally believed to be thework of the Dutch artist Frans Hals(1580-1666), is a fake. Measurements of thenaturally radioactive isotopes, polonium-210and radium-226, in lead white from the paintproved that it was no more than 50 years old.
A Van Meegeren forgery of a Vermeer.
The Mysterious Box
The New Jersey sun was high overheadand the day was hot. The three boys walkingalong a deserted stretch of beach didn’t mindbecause they were barefoot and in theirswimsuits. Occasionally they would dash inand out of the surf to cool off.
Suddenly Marti