Information technology and culture: Method for more accurate dating of manuscripts

Scientists of the Pushkin House of the Academy of Sciences and the St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO), have developed a method for the analysis of ink shades, allowing more precise dating of the manuscript.

University researchers have created a device which by spectrophotometry method in the infrared range is able to capture the invisible to the human eye the difference in ink colors used by the authors of the texts.

Subsequently, the ink of the reflectance spectra of undated manuscripts is compared with the spectra of manuscripts dating which is already known. Thus, the scientists manage to date manuscripts that do not have time indexes.

The first manuscripts treated by spectrophotometry at ITMO machine were notebooks and letters by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

According to the leading researcher of Pushkin House Constantine Barsht, notebooks contain the writer's original sketches of his works. Entries for notebooks are not dated, made randomly, but accompanied by drawings and calligraphy author.

According to the scientist, spectrophotometry of these notebooks and letters will give an opportunity to refine the dating of the manuscripts of the writer, to more accurately determine when F. Dostoevsky worked on the specific product.