Archaeology Magazine — March-April 2018

NEWTONIAN

WHITEBOARD

U

sing a photographic technique

to survey interior surfaces of Sir

Isaac Newton’s childhood home,

Woolsthorpe Manor, in Lincolnshire,

England, conservator Chris Pickup has

discovered a doodle of a windmill drawn

by the scientist as a young man. The

technology, called reflectance trans-

formation imaging (RTI), creates a

synthesis of multiple digital images,

allowing researchers to identify features

invisible to the naked eye. “Each RTI

requires over 24 photographs, so each

small section is time consuming,” Pickup

explains. “However, once applied, it

allows a deep level of analysis, and the

software makes it possible to share files

with experts anywhere in the world.”

Newton was born in 1642 and grew

up in the house, returning in 1665 when

he left Cambridge during an outbreak of

the plague. The National Trust, which

manages Woolsthorpe Manor, hopes

that finding more of Newton’s illustra-

tions will provide insight into the mind

of the groundbreaking thinker. “The

discovery could be the tip of the iceberg

in terms of drawings waiting to be uncov-

ered,” says Jannette Warrener, operations

manager at Woolsthorpe. “We know

he used the walls as a sketchpad as he

explored the world around him, which

suggests there are more to find.”

—MarLey brown

D O N ’ T J U S T L E A R N

A B O U T H I S TO R Y

HAVE A BLAST

Plan your trip to Virginia now at

HISTORYISFUN.ORG

AWARD-WINNING

EXPERT-LED

ARCHAEOLOGICAL

TOURS & GULET

CRUISES

http://www.petersommer.com

Windmill doodle