2. 教授的野望
了解了这个比赛的原理，我对Brent Seales这个人产生了兴趣。Vesuvius Challenge主站有他2019年10月在Getty Villa的报告
Reading the Herculaneum Papyri: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow，主要讲述了破译Herculaneum Scroll的技术难度。比赛的投资人Nat Friedman对这个报告赞不绝口，声称前后看了不下4遍。
Brent的研究品味以及人格魅力是他赢得投资的关键，我也推荐这个报告，听了会被他的风采折服的。
我听了Brent的其他采访，越发觉得这个人有意思。
接触Herculaneum Scrolls
Brent从Wisconsin Madison博士毕业后一直在University of Kentucky做教授，主攻方向是计算机视觉，先是在医学上的应用，后来逐渐过渡到文化保存。
2005年，他在同事的介绍下接触到Herculaneum scroll，从此便开始了20年攻克这个难题的研究。
2009年，他第一次对Herculaneum scroll做CT扫描，当时是在小型机上进行的，精度为25微米。样品由Institut de France提供。那么，为什么法国人也有Herculaneum Scrolls呢？这要从Herculaneum的发现说起。意大利于1871年统一，但发掘工作从1752年就开始了。当时的那不勒斯国王曾将6卷送给拿破仑，18卷送给乔治四世。因此，除了意大利那不勒斯保存约1800卷以外，Institut de France有6卷，牛津的Bodleian Library有4卷，British Museum有14卷。
Source wiki: In 1802, King Ferdinand IV of Naples offered six rolls to Napoleon Bonaparte in a diplomatic move. In 1803, along with other treasures, the scrolls were transported by Francesco Carelli. Upon receiving the gift, Bonaparte then gave the scrolls to Institut de France under charge of Gaspard Monge and Vivant Denon.
In 1810, eighteen unrolled papyri were given to George IV, four of which he presented to the Bodleian Library; the rest are now mainly in the British Library.
这些卷轴并不完整，因为历代物理化学方式打开的尝试导致很多卷轴损坏变成碎片。法国的Institut de France虽然有6卷，但只有2卷是完整的。
意大利人不讲武德？
Brent和意大利人的关系并铁。2018年，2018年，CBS的60 mins rewind报道了他和两位意大利学者的龃龉。
2009年CT扫描后，Brent意识到精度不够，不足以辨认墨水。因此，他提出使用来自粒子加速器的X光做CT。同步加速器光源能量更高，但价格不菲，样品也需在指定的时间窗口运送到同步加速器进行试验。意大利人没有同意。
同时，两位意大利学者——那不勒斯的物理学家Vito Mocella和莎草纸专家Graziano Ranica——也提出用同步辐射扫描卷轴，并且他们通过关系拿到了那不勒斯的卷轴样品。
But the two Italian rivals used their European connections and convinced curators to let each of them, and only them, have limited access to a few scrolls to scan with the synchrotron. They leapfrogged over American Brent Seales and raced to this one in Grenoble, France.
Mocella的文章先发表在Nature Communications
V. Mocella, E. Brun, C. Ferrero, and D. Delattre, “Revealing letters in rolled Herculaneum papyri by X-ray phase-contrast imaging,” Nature communications, vol. 6, 2015.
Ranocchia也贴到arxiv
I. Bukreeva, M. Alessandrelli, V. Formoso, G. Ranocchia, and A. Cedola, “Investigating Herculaneum papyri: An innovative 3D approach for the virtual unfolding of the rolls,” arXiv preprint arXiv:1706.09883, 2017.
这两人都使用相位信息增强图像，声称看到了希腊字母。但Brent Seales不认可他们的方法：
Brent Seales: Hey, I engage in wishful thinking all the time, but at the end of the day, I’m a scientist, and wishful thinking is not what science is based on. I was unable to replicate their results, and so far I’ve not heard from anyone who’s been able to replicate them.
在2023年10月12日First Letters prize的颁奖典礼上，主持人问及了一些同行的工作，显然是指Mocella与Ranocchia凭借私人关系抢发的文章
So, Dr. Steels, I have a question for you. Um, a few years ago, 2015, 2016, there were a couple of other papers that came out with some text from within a Herculaneum Papyrus scroll. So, so tell me how this is different from what those discoveries suggested.
Brent的回答隐晦地批评了这两个人的工作，认为这些通过不系统，说白了这两人就是干一票走人，而不是像他们组一门心思干这个
Yeah, that was a really interesting moment because we, uh, we were able to see other groups uh, saying that they were reading Herculaneum, which was, um, something that I always believed was possible. The 60 Minutes piece that, uh, gave the project a lot of visibility kind of highlighted that moment, and in that piece, I said that, you know, the writing should be systematic, things should line up, you should be able to read it. I wasn’t seeing that in the work of those colleagues at the time. But what I know to be true about this work is that is it is extremely systematic, and um, Steven’s PhD thesis uh, elaborates on the system that we are using to ensure that this is technically correct and that the papyrologists have no choice but to accept it as a legitimate and authentic text because it is well, okay. I would also like to add to that we’ve done extremely thorough technical review on the on our side on the prize side, uh, and we have a team of six uh, parpyrologist including, uh, Feder uh, who have unanimously um, come to the conclusion that these letters are indeed what we think they are, independently.
Vesurius Challenge评委通过多方检验，确保结果严谨。Brent本人对科研的认真态度，虽然不能说绝对正确，但多重检验和开源接受质询应是科研本色。
不服不行
2015年，Brent拿不到Herculaneum papyrus的样本，于是先用他的技术对以色列的En-Gedi scroll进行了研究。这个成果连Ranocchia都“直呼内行”：
Following his breakthrough in Jerusalem, even Graziano Ranica admits Brent Seales’ software is brilliant.
2018年，60 mins播出后，意大利人开始考虑Brent的方案：
Now the Naples library, which wouldn’t let Seales get his hands on the scrolls, is considering granting him access.
2019年，意大利人终于同意。8月，他们将样品送到洛杉矶的Getty Villa，由UCLA医学部进行CT扫描。10月，Brent在Getty Villa的报告展示了CT扫描的初步图像。
2019年10月，Institut de France再次与Brent合作，他们将两卷保存完好的卷轴交给Brent，在牛津的Diamond Light同步加速器进行X光扫描，这就是Vesuvius challenge提供的两卷卷轴。这次的扫描精度达到了8微米，Brent认为这个精度足以包含所需的所有信息。
2023年，在Nat Fridman的组织下，Vesuvius Challenge正是启动。9月30日，Brent拿着那不勒斯博物馆的两卷完整样品，再次去牛津Diamond light扫描CT。这是Vesuvius Challenge 2024新增的两卷。
Brent用成果说服了同行和合作的文物管理机构，也折服了投资人Nat Friedman。
教授的野望
Nat不仅提供资金和人脉帮助，还投入人力组织了比赛。
Vesuvius Challange来自于Nat Friedman的一问"What if we put together a public competition?"
这可能是Brent Seales学术生涯迄今为止最重要的一问。
读者朋友们，你可以想象一下，一个教授花了将近20年的时间进行技术铺路，最终拿到了样品，只需要解决一系列工程问题就可以在270年来第一个揭开Herculaneum scroll的秘密。虽然这个荣誉不完全是Brent Seales的，但一定是属于他的团队的。现在，如果富翁Nat Friedman启动比赛，可能一个本科生就能解决这个世纪难题。作为学者，最重要的荣耀可能就永远失去了。
事实上，后来大部分媒体都津津乐道于本科生用AI技术在2000年来第一次打开了Herculaneum papyrus，但很少有人注意到University of Kentucky的一位老教授对此倾注了二十年的心血，也很少有人注意到Brent有前后4-5个学生在这个问题上度过了博士生涯。只有Bloomberg的长文写到了此种纠结：
Seales says he was mindful of the trade-offs. The Herculaneum papyri had turned into his life’s work, and he wanted to be the one to decode them. More than a few of his students had also poured time and energy into the project and planned to publish papers about their efforts. Now, suddenly, a couple of rich guys from Silicon Valley were barging into their territory and suggesting that internet randos could deliver the breakthroughs that had eluded the experts.
但是根据Nat Fridmann的说法, Brent 15分钟就做出了决定。
And literally within 10 or 15 minutes I saw Brent’s eyes light up and he said, “You know, I think it’s a great idea, let me think about it, but I think we could do something.”
2022年，Brent已经58岁。2019年底获得的Diamond Light扫描样品已经过去了3年。也许他有把握在剩余的学术生涯里，再花1-2个博士的时间不断尝试，完整破译这两卷内容，但可能不能更多了。要scale up，必须解决效率问题以及扫描更多卷轴的资金问题。Bloomberg的说法是相比名誉，他更想打开卷轴：
More than glory, though, Seales really just hoped the scrolls would be read, and he agreed to hear Friedman out and help design the AI contest.
这个Yes给Brent带来了难以想象的效率：
-
三个月时间，Brent估算比赛大约带来了10 person years的劳力投入，以及2年的机时。
-
2023年年底，仅仅9个月不到，grant prize的三位成员破译出了15段超过2000字的文字，远超他们当初设定了4段每段140字的目标。
-
2023年，在Nat的协调下，他终于拿到了意大利的两卷样本，在牛津进行同步辐射扫描。
-
2024年，Nat预定了Diamond Light 12天的机时，准备扫描上百卷新样品。Segementaion设单独的奖优化，扫描也考虑尝试更低精度，在博物馆里直接扫描的低成本方法。
2024年3月16日，在宣布大奖的报告中，Brent说
Enter the amazing Nat Friedman and the concept that he pitched to me in a strange reversal of fortune, “Hey, why don’t we do a contest?” And I’m so glad that I said yes because being a part of this has precipitated the next step in the story.
我想他大概的确是“so glad”。
资料来源：
60 mins rewind
Vesuvius Challenge First letters prize 2023/10/12
Curiosity: Herculaneum Scrolls: Unraveling History
Brent Seales 2024 Getty Villa Presentation
