2014 XRF Workshop

The Getty Conservation Institute and the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (IPCH) at Yale University presented this second jointly organized XRF Boot Camp, November 18–21, 2014, at the Getty Villa.

Focusing primarily on qualitative analysis and the use of handheld instrumentation, the 2014 boot camp provided in-depth training in the principles of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy through interactive lectures paired with laboratory activities involving hands-on instrument use as well as data processing and interpretation.

The application of XRF to the study of core material groups in cultural heritage collections was emphasized throughout the boot camp and illustrated with examples from collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Fowler Museum at UCLA.

The fourth day of the boot camp focused on the challenges commonly encountered in the analysis of archaeological and ethnographic objects, in particular dealing with inhomogeneous compositions and/or multilayer coatings such as corrosion products on metal alloys, heavy metal elements, and composition of degraded glass matrix.

Maggi Loubser, group chief chemist, PPC Cement Ltd., South Africa

Alexander Seyfarth, senior global product manager for handheld XRF, Bruker AXS

Nancy Odegaard, professor, University of Arizona, and head of Preservation, Arizona State Museum

Anikó Bezur, Wallace S. Wilson Director of Scientific Research, Yale Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage

Karen Trentelman, senior scientist, Getty Conservation Institute

Lynn Lee, assistant scientist, Getty Conservation Institute