Gold Exhibition Opens November 12 at Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, Massachusetts: Opening Lecture at 6 p.m. on November 12, Museum Holds More Than 100,000 Specimens
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — Au: Origins Unearthed, an Exhibit Spotlight from Harvard University's Mineralogical and Geological Museum (MGMH), opens November 12 at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, following gold from the geological forces that formed it, through the scientific research that decodes its origins, to the studios of six visionary jewelers working today.
According to the museum, the exhibition draws at its scientific core on Harvard's TraceFor Gold project, an international forensic research program that uses laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and artificial intelligence to build a geochemical fingerprint database of gold, with the goal of tracing gold, including seized illegal material, back to its origin. The research is led by MGMH curator Dr. Raquel Alonso-Perez in collaboration with the Brazilian Federal Police, WWF Brazil and the University of Brasília, and now extends to measuring the isotopic composition of mercury in gold. On display are gold specimens from the MGMH collection, data visualisations from the project, and jewels by designers selected by Alonso-Perez and co-curator Melanie Grant: Pippa Small, Marla Aaron, Mike Joseph, Omi Woods, Ute Decker and Daniel Brush, with PeaceGold also taking part.
The opening program on November 12, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., in person and online, begins with a lecture by Professor Elsie M. Sunderland on mercury contamination from illegal gold mining in Amazonian rivers, followed by a panel discussion and a reception in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Gallery from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m., with advance registration required. The museum is at 26 Oxford Street. The museum says the MGMH holds more than 100,000 mineral, gem, meteorite and rock specimens.
Source: Harvard Museum of Natural History
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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