For the daguerreotypes, we could help save oil pipelines, nano-electronics, or anything that corrodes due to sulfur.
Although the investigation of that particular paint chip is done, extending this work into other fields will go on for years. This is not a project that starts and ends. It branches like a tree. Along the way you encounter other projects where you can use this knowledge.
For instance, the people who study zinc oxide for magnetic data storage might learn something about why their spectra look the way they do if they read our paper. They could learn about the role of impurities in zinc oxide in their samples. Many scientists try to minimize the complexity of what they’re studying, so they might disregard such impurities. But with this data, we can tell if there’s something inside the impurities that might influence their calculations. We can put [that knowledge] into designing better materials.
So it is taking the knowledge of what is, and applying it to what we want to make.
Yes, the same way people might say that when we design airplanes, we learn from nature. When we design nanomaterials, we can learn from the past to design smarter materials.
You said, “If they read the paper, they might learn about this.” Do you feel scientists working on new materials are unlikely to read these papers?
One of the problems with cultural heritage and science is that they don’t usually publish in the same journals. So the information might be out there, but people are not reading it. There’s not a particular area where work at this intersection is published. It’s either A or B, and it makes some results invisible.
Is this a barrier between scientists and art historians?
There’s certainly a part of that, and it goes in both directions. If you want an interface of science and art, it requires communication and willingness to learn about the other side. The really difficult part of science and art is creativity. So in that sense, there’s a lot of art in science, and science in the arts.
Do you see the need for a new field?
What we need is a change in mindset. Nanotechnology is a relatively new field, but that’s really where everything comes together—physics, chemistry, biology, art. Everything merges.
© 2014 Jyoti Madhusoodanan
Jyoti showcases her journalism work here: smjyoti.com
Picasso's The Red Armchair: Image courtesy of Flickr user tacvbo