Scientists Use Atomic Blast to Date Works

LONDON—Russian collectors are using a new, patented research method in an attempt to detect forgeries. Yet the method only works for works purporting to be from before 1945: the year the atom was split. The Times (London) reports that oil paintings made after this time will contain traces of the atomic fallout in the botanical ingredients used in the paint’s binding agents. Andrei Krusanov, a geochemist and art historian, is quoted as saying: “Any oil painting made in the nuclear era will show traces of caesium-137 and strontium-90.” The discovery was made by Elena Basner, a former curator at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.