4th Century GOBLET could REVIVE CORPSE of holographic storage

Cambridge boffins have discovered that thin films of silver nanoparticles can increase optical storage density and create multi-coloured holograms. The effect was first noted way back in fourth century Roman times (circa 290-325 AD) with the crafting of the Lycurgus Cup, an engraved glass goblet that has a green tint when lit …

[Anonymous Coward]

Who would of thought it....

...I'm more interested in the cup than the next big storage method.

[Anonymous Coward]

Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...

Your are only hope !

[TwistUrCapBack]

Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...

You're a̶r̶e̶ our only hope !

FTFY

[mark 63]

Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...

they didnt create that gramme nazi icon for nothing! use it!

should i be using it now? not sure. hmm ill go and give myself a good talking to....

[ukgnome]

Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...

gramme?

What has a unit of mass got to do with it?

[Benchops]

> they didnt create that *gramme* nazi icon for nothing! use it!

> hmm *ill* go and give myself a good talking to

they didn't create that troll icon for nothing! use it!

;)

[Filboid Studge]

Re: Help me Obi-wan Kenobi...

Who says English is a difficult language to learn?

I'll get my ghoti and chips now...

[Marcus Aurelius]

I'm afraid

He's dead Jim!

[Ben Liddicott]

It's the storage technology of tomorrow.... and has been for twenty years

Cos, you know, it allows you to store information in the depth of the media. Unlike, say, a four-layer DVD. Wait, what?

Or, you know, an stacked-die flash chip.

Seriously, holographic storage will take off never. It's a non-story and always will be.

[russell 6]

Now waiting for Ikea to start selling a reproduction set of those goblets

[Unicornpiss]

Forget the article for a moment...

I'm just blown away that someone created something that amazing 17+ centuries ago, and that it's survived all these years intact! Imagine what such an artisan could do with modern equipment and techniques. Truly a genius.

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: Forget the article for a moment...

I'm just blown away that someone created something that amazing 17+ centuries ago, and that it's survived all these years intact!

I can't help but wonder if (s)he actually made 2000 of them, and this is the only one that hasn't been dropped?

It's a bit like those amazing Roman viaducts and aquaducts that we're so impressed by, assuming that their creators really understood engineering. Isn't it also possible that if you make 1000 bridges with what you have lying around, based on guesswork, at least one of them will last?

OK, I'll get my tunicas...

[Irony Deficient]

Re: Forget the article for a moment...

Phil O’Sophical, since we still have Vitruvius’ De architectura and Frontinus’ De aquaeductu available to us, the assumption that the creators of those viaducts and aqueducts understood engineering is not unreasonable.

[Anonymous Coward 101]

Re: Forget the article for a moment...

If you look on the bottom of the cup it says 'Made in China'.

[VinceH]

Re: Forget the article for a moment...

And there are probably thousands of cheap copies gathering dust there, too.

[JimmyPage]

Made in China

Fabricant Orientalis, surely ?

[Irony Deficient]

Re: Made in China

JimmyPage, Factus est in Sina might be closer, since craftsmen typically used fecit in taking credit for their work.

[earl grey]

Dichroic glass

Still available from many artisans. Still as amazing as ever. Beautiful things brought to you by chemistry.

[Anonymous Coward]

How...

Did romans create nano particles???

[Roland6]

Re: How...

Looked over the shoulder of a neighbour Greek?

Remember the Greeks developed the Antikythera...

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: How...

"Remember the Greeks developed the Antikythera..."

What? A whole island? Unless you meant to say the Greeks developed the Antikythera mechanism :-)

[Fungus Bob]

Re: How...

Very small slaves?...

[breakfast]

Re: How...

It was easy for them because it was a long time ago so they were even older than nans.

[perlcat]

Re: How...

My guess is they used either some solvent or other chemical action to break the gold and silver up, and later precipitate them out...

Just wondering -- when gold is in solution in mercury, and the mercury is boiled off, what size the gold particles are. That technology's been around a long, long, long time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Romans: people who knew what's what

I think we can safely say that the Romans would never have wasted holography on data storage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Cup#mediaviewer/File:Warren_Cup_BM_GR_1999.4-26.1_n1.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_art_in_Pompeii_and_Herculaneum#mediaviewer/File:Museo_Nazionale_Napoli_Gabinetto_Segreto_Relief_From_Pompeji.jpg

Yes the Roman internet would have been quite recognisable to us, but I doubt SAP and Oracle would have convinced many Romans they were relevant or useful.

[Katie Saucey]

Re: Romans: people who knew what's what

but I doubt SAP and Oracle would have convinced many Romans they were relevant or useful.

I'm not so sure. Oracle would probably be able to provide some kind of overpriced slave tracking/trading solution, and I bet Larry Ellison would have gotten on just fine with the likes of Caligula or Nero.

I'll get my tunic..

[Anonymous Dutch Coward]

Re: Romans: people who knew what's what

Hah - what have the romans ever done for us

SCNR...

[perlcat]

Re: Romans: people who knew what's what

Do you suppose they'd have cat pictures as well? ...and what would Latin LOLCatSpeak be like? Enquiring minds would like to know.

[Irony Deficient]

Re: Romans: people who knew what’s what

perlcat, they certainly would have used an early version of Mosaic to view their pictures.

[roger stillick]

2D holographic radar, 2D Dassault Color imaging and THIS = YUM !!

Declassified 2D monocrome SLAR imaging from the 1950's era to today's NASA SLAR mapping Radar has been updated...

WIKI= Yves Gentet...developer of the French 'Dassault Rafale' fighter plane's holographic targeting system, finalized as the 'Thales OSF' in 2010... and 'Ultimate' his full color 2D holographic image system using RBG triple color illuminating lasers to view the image on a silver nano - particle emulsion storage media...

IMHO= these Cambrige students are trying to describe a working 3D Color holographic video monitor, and possible DVD type storage device... Wonderful !!... as describing a device or proess is the first step in actually building it...the World needs both of these items, the Cambridge folks here might just do that...RS.

[willi0000000]

holographic storage

never say "never" when there are boffins about.

[Originone]

"Cambridge boffins have discovered that thin films of silver nanoparticles can increase optical storage density and create multi-coloured holograms.

The effect was first noted way back in fourth century Roman times (circa 290-325 AD)..."

Yes I believe it was 301AD when the roman philosopher Boffinus Maximus famously stated:

"optica repono densitate et argento nanoparticles augeri partum varietate multi holograms"