"Blair Hedges, 49, an avid collector of Renaissance prints as well as animals, has devised a clever method for figuring out just how old some of these prints are. Historians have been unable to determine exact dates for hundreds of early prints and books, and Hedges thinks the answer lies in science."

"But not everyone in the world of rare books and prints has embraced this guidance from an outsider, published last month in a British scientific journal that they would ordinarily never read."

Read this article.