Louisa Smieska

  

• Postdoctoral researcher
• Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source
• Twitter: @LouisaSmieska

I'm a chemist who studies art materials. Specifically, I work on x-ray imaging techniques that allow me to make maps of what pigments paintings are made of, for example. I use x-ray fluorescence to learn about what chemical elements are present, and x-ray diffraction to learn about how the atoms are arranged in space- together, these experiments can help me identify many (although not all) pigments. I'm interested in ways to make technical analysis of art materials more accessible to non-scientist researchers, and to the public.