Billionaire Elon Musk has decided to invest in research on Roman history, allocating a total of three million dollars to various initiatives.
Through the Musk Foundation, one million dollars will go to the American Institute for Roman Culture (AIRC) and the educational platform Ancient Rome Live, while two million will go to support the Vesuvius Challenge, a project aimed at deciphering the ancient papyri of Herculaneum.
The news was released by Andrea Stroppa, Musk's collaborator in Italy, via a post on X. Stroppa explained that these initiatives "reflect Elon Musk's vision of preserving, protecting and promoting Roman culture and history, offering concrete resources to researchers, educators, students, archaeologists, restorers and historians".
The Papyrus Library of Herculaneum
The Herculaneum papyri, buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
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In 2015, a team led by Dr. Brent Seales of the University of Kentucky used CT-like technology to "photograph" the scrolls without unrolling them. The Vesuvius Challenge rewards those who make significant contributions to the interpretation of the raw data collected from the papyri.
Recent Awards and Achievements
In 2024, three young students excelled in the competition, winning a prize of $700. Youssef Nader, an Egyptian doctoral student in Berlin, Luke Farritor, a 21-year-old intern at SpaceX, and Julian Schilliger, a robotics student in Zurich, successfully deciphered 11 columns of text totaling over 2000 characters using artificial intelligence.
Comments (1)
Elon Musk’s decision to invest in Roman history research is interesting and could lead to significant discoveries. However, it remains to be seen how these funds will actually be used to decipher the Herculaneum papyrus.