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From July 1st, the British Museum will showcase a world first to the public-the virtual unwrapping of a 3,000 year old Egyptian mummy. A 12-foot tall by 42-foot wide curved screen SGI Reality Center facility has been installed at the museum and will allow visitors to take part in an exploration of an Egyptian mummy through SGI 3D visualization technology. The groundbreaking project will allow visitors to step into an immersive 3D environment to see what lies beneath the wrappings of Nesperennub, an important priest in ancient Egypt, who has been housed at the museum since 1899. For the first time in history, an Egyptian mummy has been comprehensively explored in 3D stereo in its entirety. This non-invasive technique has revealed intricate details about the dead man, including his age, lifestyle, appearance, state of health, and how he was mummified. Thanks to SGI(R) technology, all this can be revealed while the mummy remains undisturbed and completely intact. The exhibition is the culmination of more than two years' work, which involved the mummy being CT-scanned at a London hospital and 3D laser-scanned in Scotland. SGI specialists reassembled more than 1500 scanned images of the mummy into a single 3D dataset that can be interactively viewed and explored, using a specially developed, real-time visualization application created by SGI Professional Services. This allowed a combined team of SGI and British Museum experts to embark upon a process of discovery by subtly adjusting numerous parameters, such as density and opacity to tease out fine details hidden deep in the body. The 112-seat SGI Reality Center immersive theatre at the British Museum was specially designed and installed by SGI Professional Services with Fakespace Systems Inc. Powering the Reality Center facility is a 12-processor SGI(R) Onyx(R) 350 with three InfiniteReality4(TM) graphics subsystems, 6GB RAM, and 1.5TB of disk space. This year also marks the 10th anniversary for SGI building Reality Centers. The British Museum facility is the 669th Reality Center installed since the first 10 years ago in July 1994. The immersive experience allows visitors wearing 3D-stereo eyeglasses to virtually explore the kind of tomb in which Nesperennub was buried, next to his wife, on the opposite side of the River Nile from Karnak, Egypt. Viewers are then taken inside the wrappings of the mummy and are also able to see Nesperennub's facial features completely reconstructed to give an accurate visual image of the priest. The image then morphs into a human actor and a historical reconstruction of how Nesperennub would have lived is dramatized. Visitors to the museum are then able to witness the ancient Egyptian rituals of preserving the dead 3,000 years ago, including graphic details on how Nesperennub was mummified. The experience delves into incredible details such as where incisions were made to remove organs, and makes visible amulets of carved stone ceramic and wax found on his body -- all without needing to physically remove a single piece of the cartonnage case. Forensic pathologists have also contributed to the 20 minute experience, detailing health problems Nesperennub suffered and considering how he may have died. The notable British actor of stage and screen, Sir Ian McKellen, narrates the entire show. While the original show will be a 22 minute narrated experience, the option to create more interactive sessions is being investigated. For example, interactive interludes would be added, where the show is paused for further interactive investigation, or a completely free form lecture mode is possible, where a museum expert can take the audience on a journey of discovery anywhere in the mummy at will, based upon feedback from the audience. "We are excited to bring this revolutionary experience to the public for the first time, and hope it will fascinate visitors as much as it has fascinated us," commented Dr. John Taylor, assistant keeper, Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum. "In Victorian times, Egyptian mummies were unwrapped at public spectacles, which was invasive and ultimately damaging to the mummy. We are gathering information here without disturbing the casing or cartonnage at all -- through 3D technology we can reveal so much more than the naked eye can see." Prof. David Hughes, Manager of Advanced Visualization at SGI, who has pioneered the project from the outset with Dr. Taylor, added, "This is an amazing opportunity for the public to explore a piece of history which has never before been seen in such a graphic and detailed way. We are able to recreate Nesperennub the man, and recover detailed information such as how old he was and how he was mummified. This experience is really quite unique, where technology meets archaeology and reveals the methods of another advanced technology of its time; that of the ancient Egyptians. This is a truly remarkable experience and not to be missed!" "SGI Reality Center environments have been deployed all around the world in a vast variety of areas, including within BP, the primary sponsor for this project, where they are used to assist the process of oil discovery. We have also deployed Reality Center facilities in museums, from Vienna to Beijing, but this one at the British Museum on our 10th Reality Center anniversary will, I believe, prove to be one of the most spectacular to date." SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc., is the world's leader in high-performance computing, visualization and storage. SGI's vision is to provide technology that enables the most significant scientific and creative breakthroughs of the 21st century. Whether it's sharing images to aid in brain surgery, finding oil more efficiently, studying global climate or enabling the transition from analog to digital broadcasting, SGI is dedicated to addressing the next class of challenges for scientific, engineering and creative users. With offices worldwide, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and can be found on the Web at www.sgi.com. www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk 'The BP Special Exhibition' BP has supported the British Museum since 1995 on a wide range of projects namely: the BP Fellowship Program, the BP Ethnography Showcase, Major touring exhibitions e.g. Cleopatra, Egyptian Treasures from the Museum (China) and the Great Court Development.