Archimedes was one of the greatest mathematicians of the ancient times, perhaps of all time. Born in 287 BC in Syracuse, ancient Greece, he is reputed to have discovered the principles of density and buoyancy, also known as Archimedes' Principle. He is also credited with the possible invention of the odometer, and use of mirrors to focus sunlight to create fire.
Many of Archimedes' documents were lost during the Middle (Dark) Ages. A copy of one of his most important works, containing part of his Method of Mechanical Theorems was for example scraped down and reused as pages in a thirteenth century prayer book, producing a document known as a palimpsest. Now scientists are trying to decipher the original text by using high-intensity X-rays.

Section from the Archimedes Palimpsest (Courtesy: Stanford)The palimpsest was discovered in 1906. Some portions of this palimpsest were decipherable. For instance, in 2002, an examination of a portion of the manuscript showed that the Greeks understood the concept of infinity. However, most of the manuscript was thoroughly destroyed by the scraping. So researchers at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory in Menlo Park, California, decided to use X-rays to peer through this modern ink. Iron pigment in the original ink fluoresced when hit by the X-rays, allowing researchers to see the text for the first time.
The first page has now been scanned, but researchers have not yet been able to decipher the writing. Each scan yields a picture of the writing on both sides of each page, along with the thirteenth-century text that also lurks beneath the forged drawings. Different images will have to be compared carefully to unpick the Archimedes text.
The document is of utmost importance. This information locked inside it is not available anywhere else, and might provide an window into the mind of one of the greatest brains of all time. Archimedes was working on a variety of engineering and mathematical problems and puzzles, and it is possible that he might have solved some persistent problems that waited till after Rennaissance to be discovered again. This manuscript might provide us clues to such problems which Archimedes might have solved, some 2000 years before the modern age:):).