Science has much to offer the arts. Scientific testing can help to authenticate a work of art, or it can uncover a forgery. Scientific techniques can help separate original work from overpainting and restoration or reveal changes the artist made during the creative process. However, scientists sometimes offer answers to the wrong questions when they wade into the arts.

Eve Siebert has a Ph.D. in English literature from Saint Louis University. Her primary area of study is Old and Middle English literature, with secondary concentrations in Old Norse and Shakespeare. She teaches rhetoric and composition at Stockton University. She has written for Skeptical Inquirer, and the INSIGHT blog at skeptic.com and has contributed to the Skepticality podcast and Virtual Skeptics video webcast.

Presented at Balticon 53, Baltimore, Maryland, on May 26, 2019

Views expressed in this video are those of the speaker and do no necessarily reflect the views of the National Capital Area Skeptics.