Duboko unutar Jejl Univerzitetske Bajnike Biblioteke retkih knjiga i rukopisa nalazi se jedina kopija 240-straničnog izdanja. Nedavno utvrđeno da je iz oko 1420. njene kožne stranice pokazuju kružni rukopis i ručno crtane slike koje izgledaju kao da su ukradene iz sna. Stvarne i imaginarne biljke, leteći zamkovi, žene koje se kupaju, astrološki dijagrami, zodijački prstenovi, i sunca i meseci sa licima prate tekst. Ova knjiga od 24x16 centimetara je poznata kao Vojnič rukopis, i jedna je od najvećih istorijskih nerazrešenih misterija. Zbog čega? Niko ne može da odgonetne šta piše u njoj. Naziv potiče od Wilfrida Vojniča, Poljskog prodavca knjiga koji je naišao na dokument u Jezuitskom koledžu u Italiji 1912. Bio je začuđen. Ko ju je napisao? Gde je bila napravljena? Šta ove čudne reči i živi crteži predstavljaju? Kakve tajne njene stranice sadrže? On je otkupio rukopis od prezaduženog sveštenika na koledžu, i kasnije ga je doneo u S.A.D. gde su ga stručnjaci nastavili pokušavati odgonetnuti duže od jednog veka. Kriptolozi kažu da ima sve karakteristike stvarnog jezika, ali onog koji niko nikada nije video do sada. Ono što čini da izgleda stvarno je da u pravim jezicima slova i grupe slova se pojavljuju stalnom učestalošću i jezik u Vojnič rukopisu ima obrasce koje ne biste našli u generatoru nasumičnih slova. Sem toga, mi znamo veoma malo više od onoga što možemo da vidimo. Slova su varirana u stilu i visini. Neka su pozajmljena iz drugih rukopisa, ali mnoga su jedinstvena. viša slova su nazvana "vešala" simboli. Rukopis je bogato ukrašen sa vijugavim ukrasima. Izgleda da je napisan od strane dvoje ili više ljudi, sa slikama koje je uradio neko drugi. Tokom godina, pojavile su se tri glavne teorije o rukopisu. Prva je da je šifrovan, tajnim kodom namerno napravljenim da sakrije tajno značenje. Druga je da je dokument prevara pisana na nepostojećem jeziku u cilju uzimanja novca od naivnog kupca. Neki spekulišu da je autor bio srednjovekovni prevarant. Drugi, da je to bio sam Vojnič. Treća teorija je da je rukopis napisan na stvarnom jeziku, ali na nepoznatom pismu. Možda su srednjovekovni učeni ljudi pokušali da naprave azbuku za jezik koji je bio govoren ali još uvek nije bio pisan. U tom slučaju Vojnič rukopis bi mogao biti kao Rongorongo rukopis napravljen na Uskršnjem Ostrvu, sada nerazumljivo nakon što je kultura koja ih je napravila nestala. Iako niko ne može da pročita Vojnič rukopis, to nije zaustavilo ljude da pogađaju šta tu možda piše. Oni koji veruju da je rukopis bio pokušaj da se stvori novi oblik pisanog jezika spekulišu da bi to mogla biti enciklopedija koja sadrži znanje kulture koja ga je stvorila. Drugi veruju da ga je napisao filozof iz 13-tog veka Rodžer Bejkon, koji je pokušao da razume univerzalnue zakone gramatike, ili u 16-tom veku od strane Elizabetanskog mističara Džona Di-ja, koji se bavio alhemijom i divinacijom. Po marginalnim teorijama knjiga je pisana od strane klana Italijanskih veštica ili čak Marsovaca. Nakon 100 godina frustracije, naučnici su delimično osvetlili misteriju. Prvo otkriće je određivanje vremena pomoću ugljenika. Takođe, savremeni istoričari su povezali sudbinu rukopisa unazad do Rima i Praga do rane 1612., kada je možda prešao iz ruku Sv Rimskog vladara Rudolfa II do njegovog lekara, Jakobusa Sinapiusa. U dodatak ovim istorijskim otkrićima lingvisti istraživači su nedavno predložili uslovnu identifikaciju nekoliko reči iz rukopisa. Da li bi slova pored sedam zvezda napisana kao Tauran, biti naziv za Bika (Taurus), sazvežđe koje uključuje sedam zvezda, takozvane Plejade? Da li bi ova reč Centaurun mogla biti za Centaurea biljku na slici? Možda, ali napredak je slab. Ako razbijemo šifru, šta bismo mogli naći? Dnevnik snova ilustratora iz 15-tog veka? Gomilu besmislica? Ili izgubljeno znanje zaboravljene civilizacije? Šta vi mislite da je to?
Deep inside Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library lies the only copy of a 240-page tome. Recently carbon dated to around 1420, its vellum pages features looping handwriting and hand-drawn images seemingly stolen from a dream. Real and imaginary plants, floating castles, bathing women, astrology diagrams, zodiac rings, and suns and moons with faces accompany the text. This 24x16 centimeter book is called the Voynich manuscript, and its one of history's biggest unsolved mysteries. The reason why? No one can figure out what it says. The name comes from Wilfrid Voynich, a Polish bookseller who came across the document at a Jesuit college in Italy in 1912. He was puzzled. Who wrote it? Where was it made? What do these bizarre words and vibrant drawings represent? What secrets do its pages contain? He purchased the manuscript from the cash-strapped priest at the college, and eventually brought it to the U.S., where experts have continued to puzzle over it for more than a century. Cryptologists say the writing has all the characteristics of a real language, just one that no one's ever seen before. What makes it seem real is that in actual languages, letters and groups of letters appear with consistent frequencies, and the language in the Voynich manuscript has patterns you wouldn't find from a random letter generator. Other than that, we know little more than what we can see. The letters are varied in style and height. Some are borrowed from other scripts, but many are unique. The taller letters have been named gallows characters. The manuscript is highly decorated throughout with scroll-like embellishments. It appears to be written by two or more hands, with the painting done by yet another party. Over the years, three main theories about the manuscript's text have emerged. The first is that it's written in cypher, a secret code deliberately designed to hide secret meaning. The second is that the document is a hoax written in gibberish to make money off a gullible buyer. Some speculate the author was a medieval con man. Others, that it was Voynich himself. The third theory is that the manuscript is written in an actual language, but in an unknown script. Perhaps medieval scholars were attempting to create an alphabet for a language that was spoken but not yet written. In that case, the Voynich manuscript might be like the rongorongo script invented on Easter Island, now unreadable after the culture that made it collapsed. Though no one can read the Voynich manuscript, that hasn't stopped people from guessing what it might say. Those who believe the manuscript was an attempt to create a new form of written language speculate that it might be an encyclopedia containing the knowledge of the culture that produced it. Others believe it was written by the 13th century philosopher Roger Bacon, who attempted to understand the universal laws of grammar, or in the 16th century by the Elizabethan mystic John Dee, who practiced alchemy and divination. More fringe theories that the book was written by a coven of Italian witches, or even by Martians. After 100 years of frustration, scientists have recently shed a little light on the mystery. The first breakthrough was the carbon dating. Also, contemporary historians have traced the provenance of the manuscript back through Rome and Prague to as early as 1612, when it was perhaps passed from Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to his physician, Jacobus Sinapius. In addition to these historical breakthroughs, linguistic researchers recently proposed the provisional identification of a few of the manuscript's words. Could the letters beside these seven stars spell Tauran, a name for Taurus, a constellation that includes the seven stars called the Pleiades? Could this word be Centaurun for the Centaurea plant in the picture? Perhaps, but progress is slow. If we can crack its code, what might we find? The dream journal of a 15th-century illustrator? A bunch of nonsense? Or the lost knowledge of a forgotten culture? What do you think it is?