Science Visualized Chemistry

How a particle accelerator helped recover tarnished 19th century images

The technique could aid restoration efforts

before and after daguerreotypes

BIG REVEAL To the naked eye, the woman in the damaged daguerreotype (left) looks ghostly. A synchrotron helped researchers restore her portrait (right).

Left: National Gallery of Canada; Right: M.S. Kozachuk et al/Scientific Reports 2018

By Katherine Bourzac

- More than 2 years ago

With the aid of a particle accelerator, scientists are bringing back ghosts from the past, revealing portraits hidden underneath the tarnished surface of two roughly 150-year-old silver photographic plates.