"The most hidden words and diagrams of Archimedes' greatest works now are coming to light inside a particle accelerator here. Scientists in the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory slowly are scanning an X-ray beam half as thick as a human hair over the ancient parchment in hope of recovering his thoughts from more than 2,000 years ago. "

"What they're working with is 'the ugliest manuscript I have ever seen,' said William Noel, curator of manuscripts and rare books at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, home of the Archimedes palimpsest — meaning a document containing hidden text. "

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