Since the 20th century, physics has revolutionised our understanding of matter. The development of quantum mechanics unveiled the particle-wave duality, revealing that particles like electrons exhibit both wave and particle properties. The spectral understanding of matter that ensues, is today opening lines of research that connect materiality of human artefacts well beyond traditional notions of meaning and historical records. Matter in heritage is today material, matters of concern, matrix of codes, and referent of origins.
Nuclear Physics for Heritage
CREF Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi - Giulia Festa and Claudia Scatigno
Giulia Festa is an experimental physicist. She leads the Physics for Cultural Heritage Laboratory at CREF. She studies, through chemical-physical techniques, archaeological findings such as ceramics, metals, papers, inks, and bones. Current activities focus on a combination of portable instrumentation and consolidated experience in the use of Large-Scale Facilities, together with advanced statistical methods such as Machine Learning. She is co-editor of the first monograph about neutron methods applied to archaeology and cultural heritage.
Claudia Scatigno is a researcher specializing in experimental physics and analytical chemistry. Her current research focuses on material characterization using advanced spectroscopic techniques integrated with machine learning and deep learning methods with a focus on nutritional systems. She has developed and applied machine learning algorithms in materials science, spectroscopy, and environmental studies. From 2017 to 2020, she worked on inelastic neutron spectroscopy, focusing on hydrogen detection limits.
Video curated by Hilla Laufer