The Lycurgus Cup: a 4th-century Marvel of Roman Glass
Via Smithsonian Magazine
The Story
The Lycurgus Cup, a 1,600 year old Roman glass chalice held at the British Museum, appears jade green when lit from the front but glows blood red when light passes through from behind, making it a marvel of ancient nanotechnology.
The fourth century cup depicts King Lycurgus of Thrace ensnared in grapevines, presumably as punishment from the god Dionysus.
The color shifting mystery endured until 1990, when English researchers studying broken fragments under the microscope discovered that Roman artisans had impregnated the glass with silver and gold particles about 50 nanometers wide, less than one thousandth the size of a grain of table salt.
The precise mixture suggests the craftsmen knew exactly what they were doing, an achievement University College London archaeologist Ian Freestone called an amazing feat.
When light strikes the metal flecks, their electrons vibrate in ways that alter the color depending on the observer's position.
The same physics now inspires modern devices, including a prototype by University of Illinois engineer Gang Logan Liu that uses billions of microscopic wells sprayed with gold or silver nanoparticles to identify liquids, showing light green for water and red for oil while proving 100 times more sensitive to altered salt levels than commercial sensors.
The cup stands as proof that Roman artisans practiced a rudimentary form of nanotechnology roughly 1,600 years before the field had a name.
The fourth century cup depicts King Lycurgus of Thrace ensnared in grapevines, presumably as punishment from the god Dionysus.
The color shifting mystery endured until 1990, when English researchers studying broken fragments under the microscope discovered that Roman artisans had impregnated the glass with silver and gold particles about 50 nanometers wide, less than one thousandth the size of a grain of table salt.
The precise mixture suggests the craftsmen knew exactly what they were doing, an achievement University College London archaeologist Ian Freestone called an amazing feat.
When light strikes the metal flecks, their electrons vibrate in ways that alter the color depending on the observer's position.
The same physics now inspires modern devices, including a prototype by University of Illinois engineer Gang Logan Liu that uses billions of microscopic wells sprayed with gold or silver nanoparticles to identify liquids, showing light green for water and red for oil while proving 100 times more sensitive to altered salt levels than commercial sensors.
The cup stands as proof that Roman artisans practiced a rudimentary form of nanotechnology roughly 1,600 years before the field had a name.
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