Conservation scientists

Modem synthetic polymers are the subject of increasing research by conservation scientists. Not only does their frequent use in conservation treatments require a better understanding of their long term stabiUty, but also many objects, including those in collections of contemporary art and in history and technology museums, are made out of these new materials. 

Freemantle, M. (1996), Historic stone monuments pose challenge to conservation scientists, Chem. Eng. News (April 15), 20-23. 

Conrad-Limpach-Knorr synthesis, of quinolines, 21 189 Conrad recycling process, 21 455 Conradson carbon test method, 11 705, 721 Consensus materials standards, 15 743 Consent decree protocols, in the United States, 11 692-694 Consent decrees, 11 689-690 Consequence analysis, 21 860-861 Consequence modeling, 13 165-166 Conservation applications, high performance fibers in, 13 398 Conservation of energy, 21 290 Conservation of mass, 11 737, 738-739 Conservation, of resources, 24 164-167 Conservation scientists, 11 398-399 Consistent force field, 16 744 Consolidants, in fine art examination/ conservation, 11 410... 

As a practicing conservator with over twenty-five years experience in book and paper conservation, I view with approbation the increasing number of young people who are choosing this profession. My colleagues and I welcome the opportunity to train them in the important task of preserving our artistic, literary, and scientific heritage. I find the work and interest of conservation scientists extremely helpful. 

Such procedures would be considered to be appropriate, though not necessarily adequate, by most professional conservators. They look forward to a time when all aspects of the preservation needs of an item can be satisfied by safe treatments. So far, conservation scientists have not been able to help with answers for some very serious problems no research to date, for example, has provided guidelines as to how to prevent slight color changes in paper or media resulting from the application of alkaline solutions to arrest decay of the paper support. 

Standards would encourage better communication among conservators, scientists, archival organizations, and suppliers of materials. 

The relationship between the public, the conservation scientist and the archaeologist is symbiotic. Each group impacts on the work of the other. Mutual respect is the catalyst that will ensure that our cultural heritage has the future it deserves. 

Many of the bleaching processes are derived from the paper industry as paper pulps often need to be bleached before being formed into paper products. Much more research has been carried out on bleaching than has ever been done by conservation scientists and the paper science literature is a good place for any paper conservation scientist wanting more information. 

It is the job of the textile conservator to ensure, as far as is possible, the longevity of such objects, for all to enjoy. The conservation scientist can help to inform the decisions that the conservator must make about the treatment of the objects. The constituent materials have to be identified, requiring both... 

We began this chapter by suggesting that a conservation scientist would need a thorough appreciation of the underlying science to best advise on the longterm preservation of historic artefacts like the Victory sail, Shackleton s ensign and the Jesse tapestry. In the associated investigation carried out to support... 

The conservator needs to be able to understand whether the preservation of the artefact is compromised in any way by its present condition, by what means the materials can be stabilised and how they will behave in the future. If the knowledge to provide this understanding is not already in the public domain, the conservation scientist will need to investigate the nature of the materials and especially their deterioration as brought about by heat, light and moisture, and perhaps gaseous pollutants and microorganisms. 

We intended our three case studies to not only provide suitable vehicles for discussing the nature of our selected natural fibres, but also to illustrate the vital role for science and the conservation scientist in the continuing preservation of our cultural heritage. 

Although the a-helical core is common to all IF proteins, the N- and C-terminal domains of different types of IF proteins vary greatly In molecular weight and sequence. Partly because of this lack of sequence conservation, scientists initially speculated that the N- and C-terminal domains do not have roles in IF assembly. The results of several subsequent experiments, however, proved this hypothesis to be partly incorrect. For instance, if the N-terminal domain of an IF... 

Another possible reason that a see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil period persisted was the lack of a clear role for conservation. Scientists were busy quantifying the impacts to biogeochemical processes and impacts on species wherever possible, and policy was aided, and some would say driven, largely by society s response to the negative human impacts that were occurring. The Clean Air Act and its amendments were passed largely without the aid of the conservation community. Apathy in the conservation world could persist at minimal cost when there was no obvious role or need. 

Detailed and clear descriptions of the theory, procedures and health and safety aspects of the spot tests most relevant to materials present in museums and galleries may be found in the publication Material Characterization Tests for Objects of Art and Archaeology (Odegaard et al., 2000). Spot tests that conservators and conservation scientists have found most effective to analyse plastics are presented here. 

Education in plastics conservation was initiated in the 1990s and the number of courses is growing steadily. Specialized, fuU-time courses for plastics conservators at undergraduate level would ensure that museums and other cultural institutes had qualified staff to conserve and research their collections. A combination of formal training and more practical internships involving conservation of plastics, particularly in contemporary art, modem history and medical collections, would equip conservators and conservation scientists with knowledge and experience of new materials. 

Thea B. van Oosten Senior conservation scientist Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN), The Netherlands, Amsterdam Former coordinator Modern Materials and Contemporary Art Working Group ICOM-CC Member of the board of ICOM-CC... 

About 25 years ago it was rare that any scientist would speak about 4f electrons being involved in bonding, since everyone knew that the 4f electrons were localized in the ion core and were well shielded by the 5p and 5s electrons, especially in the case of the lanthanide metals. However, a few scientists led by Matthias and Gschneidner believed that some of the properties of the lanthanide elements were sufficiently anomalous with respect to the rest of the periodic table that just the (5d6s) valence electrons could not account for these behaviors. Slowly the evidence built up, such that today virtually everyone believes that there is some hybridization of the 4f electrons with the outer 5d and 6s electrons, especially in the light lanthanides (see, e.g., Freeman et al. 1987). The work on intermediate valence cerium and more recently the heavy-fermion studies (see section 4.4.4) convinced even the most conservative scientists that 4f electrons must be involved. Reference to the early papers on this subject can be found in the article by Gschneidner (1971). 

The fact that women are less likely to enter science, mathematics, and engineering majors at the college level than men is very closely related with women s historically subordinated status. In a sense, women are suffering prolonged effects of alienation from these fields since ancient times. As discussed before, the forces that keep women away from these disciplines originate from the nineteenth-century (and earlier) conservative scientists insistent work of justifying cultural expectations of women and the sexual division of labor. 

Identification of biomaterials in carved artwork (e.g., horn, hoof, and tortoiseshell) information of critical importance to art restorers and museum conservation scientists faced with the problem of conserving ill-restored items and the preservation of deteriorating material... 

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