KEYNOTE / Robert Erdmann

Robert Erdmann explains how the Rijksmuseum used Python and an automated gantry camera to create a 717-gigapixel image of Rembrandt's Night Watch.

Prior to earning his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2006, Robert Erdmann started a science and engineering software company and worked extensively on solidification and multiscale transport modeling at Sandia National Laboratories. Upon graduation, he joined the faculty at the University of Arizona in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Program in Applied Mathematics, where he worked on multiscale material process modeling and image processing for cultural heritage. In 2014 he moved permanently to Amsterdam to focus full-time on combining materials science, computer science, and imaging science to help the world access, preserve, and understand its cultural heritage. He is Senior Scientist at the Rijksmuseum, and is also Full Professor of Conservation Science in the Faculties of Science and of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam. He has been using Python since 2001 and teaching Python since 2006.