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UltravioletPhotography

UV imaging discovered by the Vikings.....


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Ok, firstly I apologise for the click-bait title.

 

I was reading some articles for a book chapter I'm writing at the moment, and came across the following piece from New Scientist in 1998 - "Vikings were surprisingly well focused".

 

They were apparently making aspheric, quartz lenses, about 1000 years ago.

 

Link to the article here - https://www.newscien...y-well-focused/

 

Actually, there is a bit more on it here - http://news.bbc.co.u...tech/702478.stm - and it looks like they may have had an Eastern European origin.

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I think you're just pandering to Ulf, Birna, and UVP's other Scandy members, Jonathan.

 

Actually, when I looked at the BBC link and its date, I assumed they were reporting on something that had come out 4 days earlier.

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(Bernard, I think Jonathan is just joking.)

 

Andrea scurries off to find her Sunstone.

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A funny Viking side note here: I did one of those DNA tests which resulted in the discovery that I have approximately 15% Scandinavian DNA in my European ancestry. Yet no Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic ancestors occur in the last 10 generations or so, at least not that we could discover. The explanation is that those Vikings got around all over Europe in times past, heh-heh, if you get my drift.
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Yes, there was a lot of viking presence/settlement in the UK and Ireland. And those damned Normans who conquered England in 1066 were Vikings. And the Normans established themselves all over Europe, including Sicily.
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The vikings not only warriors, but also discoverers and traders.

At the period there was very much violence between many different groups of people.

I do not think the vikings could have been so successful spreading their DNA that much just during war and plunder.

 

It is difficult to know for sure after so long time.

 

Just as half a century before the vikings the period in England was considered the dark ages until the finds in Sutton Hoo emerged, rewriting the history of that time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Hoo

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Yes, I’ve read about peaceful Viking trading settlements in coastal areas.

Thanks for the Sutton Hoo link. Quite interesting.

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I was at college in the 1970's, studying scientific and technical photography. One of my tutors had a very long and distinguished career in various museums and universities. He told the story that he once ground his own lenses from blocks of quartz, just like " the Aztecs/Mayans". I must see if I can find any references to this!
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