[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.68,0:00:10.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Deep inside Yale University's Beinecke\NRare Book and Manuscript Library
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.69,0:00:14.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lies the only copy of a 240-page tome.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.90,0:00:17.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Recently carbon dated to around 1420,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.52,0:00:19.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its vellum pages features \Nlooping handwriting
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.98,0:00:23.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and hand-drawn images seemingly\Nstolen from a dream.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.98,0:00:25.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Real and imaginary plants,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.73,0:00:27.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,floating castles,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.35,0:00:28.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bathing women,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.76,0:00:30.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,astrology diagrams,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:30.26,0:00:31.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,zodiac rings,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.50,0:00:37.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and suns and moons with faces\Naccompany the text.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.01,0:00:41.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This 24x16 centimeter book\Nis called the Voynich manuscript,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.54,0:00:44.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and its one of history's biggest\Nunsolved mysteries.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.65,0:00:45.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The reason why?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.89,0:00:49.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,No one can figure out what it says.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.26,0:00:51.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The name comes from Wilfrid Voynich,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.19,0:00:54.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a Polish bookseller who came across\Nthe document at a Jesuit college
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.66,0:00:56.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in Italy in 1912.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:56.77,0:00:57.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He was puzzled.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.94,0:00:59.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who wrote it?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.01,0:01:00.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Where was it made?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.43,0:01:04.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What do these bizarre words\Nand vibrant drawings represent?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.12,0:01:06.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What secrets do its pages contain?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.69,0:01:09.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He purchased the manuscript from\Nthe cash-strapped priest at the college,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.67,0:01:11.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and eventually brought it to the U.S.,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.57,0:01:16.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where experts have continued to puzzle\Nover it for more than a century.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.19,0:01:20.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Cryptologists say the writing has all\Nthe characteristics of a real language,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.08,0:01:22.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just one that no one's ever seen before.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.65,0:01:25.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What makes it seem real is that\Nin actual languages,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.39,0:01:29.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,letters and groups of letters appear\Nwith consistent frequencies,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.39,0:01:31.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the language in the Voynich manuscript
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.51,0:01:35.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has patterns you wouldn't find\Nfrom a random letter generator.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.34,0:01:38.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Other than that, we know little more\Nthan what we can see.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.71,0:01:41.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The letters are varied \Nin style and height.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:41.24,0:01:44.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some are borrowed from other scripts,\Nbut many are unique.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.94,0:01:48.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The taller letters have been named\Ngallows characters.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.26,0:01:50.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The manuscript is \Nhighly decorated throughout
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.48,0:01:52.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with scroll-like embellishments.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.59,0:01:55.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It appears to be written by two\Nor more hands,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.21,0:01:58.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the painting done \Nby yet another party.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.27,0:02:03.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Over the years, three main theories\Nabout the manuscript's text have emerged.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.69,0:02:06.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first is that it's written in cypher,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.04,0:02:10.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a secret code deliberately designed\Nto hide secret meaning.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.26,0:02:12.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The second is that the document is a hoax
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.58,0:02:16.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,written in gibberish to make money\Noff a gullible buyer.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:16.21,0:02:19.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some speculate the author\Nwas a medieval con man.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.13,0:02:22.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Others, that it was Voynich himself.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:22.79,0:02:26.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The third theory is that the manuscript\Nis written in an actual language,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.52,0:02:28.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but in an unknown script.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.70,0:02:31.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps medieval scholars were attempting\Nto create an alphabet
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.67,0:02:35.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for a language that was spoken\Nbut not yet written.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:35.12,0:02:38.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In that case, the Voynich manuscript\Nmight be like the rongorongo script
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.84,0:02:40.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,invented on Easter Island,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:40.68,0:02:45.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,now unreadable after the culture\Nthat made it collapsed.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.00,0:02:47.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Though no one can read \Nthe Voynich manuscript,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.36,0:02:50.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that hasn't stopped people from guessing\Nwhat it might say.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:50.14,0:02:52.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those who believe the manuscript\Nwas an attempt to create
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.87,0:02:54.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a new form of written language
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.74,0:02:56.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,speculate that it might be an encyclopedia
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.100,0:03:00.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,containing the knowledge \Nof the culture that produced it.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.28,0:03:04.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Others believe it was written by \Nthe 13th century philosopher Roger Bacon,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.41,0:03:08.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who attempted to understand \Nthe universal laws of grammar,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.13,0:03:12.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or in the 16th century by the\NElizabethan mystic John Dee,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.50,0:03:15.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who practiced alchemy and divination.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.26,0:03:19.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,More fringe theories that the book was\Nwritten by a coven of Italian witches,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.07,0:03:22.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or even by Martians.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.30,0:03:24.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After 100 years of frustration,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.12,0:03:27.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,scientists have recently shed a little\Nlight on the mystery.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.58,0:03:30.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first breakthrough \Nwas the carbon dating.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.19,0:03:33.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Also, contemporary historians have\Ntraced the provenance of the manuscript
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.67,0:03:37.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,back through Rome and Prague\Nto as early as 1612,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.55,0:03:41.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when it was perhaps passed\Nfrom Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.29,0:03:44.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to his physician, Jacobus Sinapius.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.48,0:03:46.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In addition to these \Nhistorical breakthroughs,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.80,0:03:50.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,linguistic researchers recently proposed\Nthe provisional identification
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.53,0:03:53.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of a few of the manuscript's words.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.70,0:03:56.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Could the letters beside these seven\Nstars spell Tauran,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.94,0:03:58.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a name for Taurus,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.52,0:04:02.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a constellation that includes the seven\Nstars called the Pleiades?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.44,0:04:06.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Could this word be Centaurun\Nfor the Centaurea plant in the picture?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.81,0:04:09.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Perhaps, but progress is slow.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.70,0:04:12.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If we can crack its code,\Nwhat might we find?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.53,0:04:14.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The dream journal of \Na 15th-century illustrator?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:14.96,0:04:16.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A bunch of nonsense?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.69,0:04:19.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or the lost knowledge \Nof a forgotten culture?
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.49,0:04:21.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What do you think it is?