Nov 18, 2018
By Aldo Puccini
A University of South Florida professor is bringing ancient Greek history into the future with virtual reality.
Bill Murray can now recreate parts of ancient monuments through 3D prints.
“It allows you to discover something in a place like Greece or Italy,” said Murray. “You can make a scan of it and then you can study it at your own leisure in your office. It allows you to continue your research when you’re not in the country. In those ways, it’s really improved my ability to study the ancient past.”
Murray is currently working on recreating full-sized warship rams from the Battle of Actium. “My problem is how do I explain it to other people. So, I thought well I could do it in drawings, I could do it in photography and then this technology came along.”
While 3D printing is already changing the game in terms of how research is done in all kinds of fields, the lasting touch that it is leaving on the work of people like Murray is huge on a historical level. “As my own field is concerned, it will allow you to experience art objects or archeological objects that exist in museums that you would never go to in your lifetime,” said Murray. “You can experience them in your own home.”
According to Murray, 3D printing isn’t just impacting the kind of research he does. It’s also impacting people with present-day needs.
“What I see for the future is the fact that this kind of technology is going to impact manufacturing,” said Murray. “I’m interested in history and I’m interested in representation from the past to the present. So, museums will incorporate this kind of technology. But I think that most people in the real world are going to find that custom-made pieces of equipment that used to cost a lot of money can now be made much more cheaply.”
The effects on manufacturing are already being seen. As Murray points out, custom-made pieces of equipment are much more accessible now and it’s especially helping people who used to have to pay a fortune for prosthetic limbs.
“The example that I have is a little girl that was born with a deformed hand, she threw out the first pitch recently at major league ball games all around the country,” said Murray. “That’s the sort of thing that might have cost thousands of dollars in the past and probably something that could be made up for hundreds of dollars now.”
Perhaps the most striking proponent of 3D printing technology is its versatility. From making the work and life-long passions of Murray come to life, to making life easier for others, it seems like this technology’s possibilities are limitless. This technology is available at USF and is accessible to all students. Inside the chemistry building, you can find the university’s newly minted 3D Access Lab, where you’ll be able to explore the technology Murray uses for his research.
This was created by USF student Aldo Puccini for Jeanette Abrahamsen’s Advanced Reporting class in 2018.
