Changing the Face of History: Forensic Anthropologists Reconstruct First President's Real Looks
Forensic anthropologists are reconstructing the facial features of George Washington and creating life size models of him at the ages of 19, 45, and 57. They are able to do this by using 3D laser scans of sculptures and processing images with math based computer software. Essentially, what the specialists are doing is using lasers to scan sculptures, busts and dentures. Then, computer scientists feed the scans into a computer that breaks down the image into tiny points. Using mathematics, the points are connected to form an image. This image is then used to recreate what they believe to be the approximate vestage of what this nation's first president looked like. With life-sized models of Washington, scientisrs hope to be able to show him as he truly was (which they state would be more appealing to children rather than just pictures of him standing in full uniform posing).
What really shocked me about this article was that anthropologists are able to reconstruct the facial features of someone through sculptures and paintings without any physical bodily remains to work with.
4 comments:
David, I really enjoyed reading your review, and when I read the article I also thought it was fascinating. It reminded me of seeing the wax models of all our presidents at the Hall of Presidents at Disney World. If I were to suggest anything, maybe to explain a little further on the mathematical based computer software because it was very interesting and how that whole process works. Overall, it was very nicely written! Good job!
I really enjoyed the idea of facial reconstruction of one of our founding father-its an interesting idea. When we think of people like George Washington, we think of them as a heroic figure, not a teenage boy, or otherwise. I also agree that children in school can relate more to a kid than to an army general. This happens a lot on TV shows like Bones; they can reconstruct a fully formed face from remains, but what amazes me is, according to this article, they are only using scultures, busts,and denture,which is astounding. If I could suggest anything, it would be to maybe expand on the article and tell more information about the topic, becuase it is a truly facinating one. Good job! :)
David,I was very interested in the topic you decided to due your current event on. Anthropology was very impressive to read about, I am amazed how scientists are able to take a simple picture of an individual and completely recreate the look of that individual using a complex mathematical program. Furthermore, you said that these scientists are able to sculpt a life-size model of the person they are recreating, which is a seemingly impossible task. After reading this post, you helped me understand how complex it is for a scientist to construct an accurate image of an individual when they have limited information to work with. In addition, this artical has proven to me that is takes more than just typing dimensions into a computer to create an accurate image of the individual at hand. Although I was very impressed by your artical,there is one thing you could improve on. I think you should have told the reader what items were used to process an image of George Washington.
Sincerely,
Max Goldberg
I thought that the topic of the article was extremely interesting and I would like to learn more about it after reading your review. The information was presented in a simply, yet detailed way. The only thing that I would suggest is to add a little more detail about the process itself. I had no idea that you could accurately re-sculpt the face and body of someone who's remains are unusable.
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