World`s only particle accelerator dedicated to art revs up at the Louvre in Paris
(Artdaily.org)

The world`s only particle accelerator dedicated to art was switched on at the Louvre in Paris Thursday to help experts analyse ancient and precious works. The 37-metre (88-foot) AGLAE accelerator housed underneath the huge Paris museum will be now be used for the first time to routinely study and help authenticate paintings and other items made from organic materials. The Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museum of France (C2RMF) -- which is independent of the Louvre -- has spent 2.1 million euros ($2.5 million) overhauling and upgrading the machine, which can determine the chemical make-up of objects without the need to take samples. `Up to now we almost never analysed paintings because we were afraid the particle beam might change the colours` when it hit the pigments in the paint, director Isabelle Pallot-Frossard told AFP. The AGLAE works by speeding up helium and hydrogen nuclei to speeds of between