The Mary Rose: preserving an old wreck with nanoscience

A talk by Dr Prof AV Chadwick. See the Sherborne Science Cafe website for for more info about their events.

This talk has the same title as a previous talk given by the speaker at the School of Chemistry, Bangor University, which has the following abstract:

The Mary Rose was built in 1509 and, after an illustrious career she sank in Portsmouth Harbour in 1545 following a confrontation with the French fleet. She remained on the seabed until she was re-discovered in 1967 and raised in 1982. A large fraction of the wreck’s hull was recovered, conserved and is currently on exhibition to the public in a new purpose-built museum. The ship, along with the associated 20,000 artifacts, represent a unique insight into Tudor life and are a national treasure. The conservators at the Mary Rose Trust were faced with a wide range of problems when embarking on the conservation project. The trust has collaborated with a team of scientists at the University of Kent, including Professor Chadwick. The team focused on a specific problem, termed the ‘sulfur problem’. The team’s work involves a wide range of techniques, particularly synchrotron radiation at the Diamond Light Source, and has determined a possible nanomaterial solution to the sulfur problem.