Sheffield scientists crack the secret of Rome's colour-changing glass
Scientists rediscover how to make ancient Roman colour-changing glass
The Lycurgus Cup, a 1,600-year-old Roman masterpiece at the British Museum, shifts from jade green to ruby red depending on where light hits it. Researchers at the University of Sheffield have now reproduced that dichroic effect using a recipe derived from a fragment of the original, growing gold and silver nanoparticles inside molten glass as it cools. A glass artist has turned the result into a sculpture honouring its ancient twin.
The fact that the colour is so sensitive to the position in the furnace suggests that it would have been very difficult for the Romans to control the colour. It makes me think that, with the Lycurgus glass, they hit the jackpot.