Rijksmuseum Fellow turns X-ray machine into CT scanner
Publication date: 14 May 2024 - 08:26
Rijksmuseum Fellow Francien Bossema has developed a method for making CT scans using a simple X-ray machine. The only additional equipment she needed to achieve this was a few ball bearings of the type that can be bought at any bicycle repair shop. Her method means it is now possible to conduct research without purchasing an expensive CT scanner. This research has taken place through a partnership between the CWI (Amsterdam, NL), the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (Leiden, NL), the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, NL), the British Museum (London, UK) and the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, USA). The results of Bossema’s research were published in the leading scientific journal Nature Communications.
Being able to make CT scans is important to the museum because they allow researchers to look at the inside of artworks without damaging them. We can now apply this technique without making an expensive investment.
Francien Bossema
Seeing inside
Three-dimensional CT scans allow us to look inside wooden objects, for example, to date them by the annual tree growth rings. They also reveal the interior of artworks so we can gather more information about what techniques and methods the artist used. While many museums with research facilities do not have CT scanners, because they are so expensive, they do have X-ray machines at their disposal.
Three-dimensional images
Francien Bossema has developed a method for making three-dimensional images with an X-ray machine. She achieved this by adding a piece of polystyrene containing several small metal balls to the object being scanned (the metal balls are simple ball bearings used in bicycles). Using algorithms specially developed for this purpose, a computer can calculate the actual position of the ball bearings based on the radiographs and then use the information combine multiple X-rays to form a three-dimensional image.
PhD
Bossema is currently a postdoctoral researcher on a Migelien Gerritzen fellowship at the Rijksmuseum. She obtained her PhD for this research on 23 May 2024 at the University of Leiden.
