THE MYSTERIOUS BOX: Nuclear Science and Art by Bernard Keisch Contents The Mysterious Box 2 How Old Is a Painting? 11 Who Was the Artist? 24 Other New Tools for Art Authentication 36 One Mystery Solved 42 Reading List 44 United States Atomic Energy Commission Office of Information Services Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 70-606040 1970; 1974 (rev.) The Author [Illustration: Bernard Keisch] Dr. Bernard Keisch received his B.S. degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his Ph.D. from Washington University. He is a Senior Fellow with the Division of Sponsored Research of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He is presently engaged in a project that deals with the applications of nuclear technology to art identification. This is jointly sponsored by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission and the National Gallery of Art. Previously he was a nuclear research chemist with the Phillips Petroleum Company and senior scientist at the Nuclear Science and Engineering Corporation. He has contributed articles on art authentication to a number of journals. For the AEC, in addition to this booklet, he has written _The Atomic Fingerprint: Neutron Activation Analysis_, _Secrets of the Past: Nuclear Energy Applications in Art and Archaeology_, and _Lost Worlds: Nuclear Science and Archaeology_. Nuclear energy is playing a vital role in the life of every man, woman, and child in the United States today. In the years ahead it will affect increasingly all the peoples of the earth. It is essential that all Americans gain an understanding of this vital force if they are to discharge thoughtfully their responsibilities as citizens and if they are to realize fully the myriad benefits that nuclear energy offers them. The United States Atomic Energy Commission provides this booklet to help you achieve such understanding. The Cover This painting, originally believed to be the work of the Dutch artist Frans Hals (1580-1666), is a fake. Measurements of the naturally radioactive isotopes, polonium-210 and radium-226, in lead white from the paint proved that it was no more than 50 years old. [Illustration: _A Van Meegeren forgery of a Vermeer._] The Mysterious Box The New Jersey sun was high overhead and the day was hot. The three boys walking along a deserted stretch of beach didn’t mind because they were barefoot and in their swimsuits. Occasionally they would dash in and out of the surf to cool off.