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Shroud Of Turin Detective StoryShroud Of Turin Detective Story
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Subjects > Religion (Search) > Shroud of Turin (Search)
Detective Story, Part Two
(The following article appeared in "NASA Activities," September 1978, p. 7.)
Although the "Shroud of Turin" investigation by JPL scientists is not a NASA enterprise, the image enhancement techniques used stem from space technology. The work, therefore, has a NASA connotation. The following article, from the JPL Universe, covers the latest developments in this fascinating story. (See NASA Activities for November 1977 for earlier coverage.)
The Shroud of Turin, that ancient burial cloth mysteriously imprinted with a figure thought to resemble Jesus Christ, is dramatically affecting the lives of two JPL scientists.
When Don Lynn and Jean Lorre agreed to apply image processing techniques to photographs of the shroud in 1977, they hardly expected to find their results published in newspapers and magazines around the world.
Since then, their initial mild curiosity about the relic has intensified through involvement with other American scientists who propose to determine how the shroud was imprinted through a variety of sophisticated tests. The result is that Lynn and Lorre will go to Turin, Italy, in October when Catholic authorities will allow the American science team to make an unprecedented 24-hour examination of the shroud itself.
The team is sponsored by the New York-based Holy Shroud Guild of America. And the tests coincide with a public exhibition and international conference about the shroud, to be held in Turin September 26 through October 8.
Lynn and Lorre will take infrared and ultraviolet photographs as well as conventional black and white and color pictures. Other team members will make radiographic and X-ray fluorescence examinations.
Primarily, they will explore the mechanical formation of the unique "negative" image of a 5-foot-10 man with lacerations about his head, face and body.
Turin authorities declined to accept the proposed age-dating tests until it is determined exactly how much cloth is needed to get accurate results. If approval is granted by the conclusion of the exhibition, results from those tests will take months to obtain.
Although the shroud has been stitched to a protective cloth backing, the reverse side of the fragile fabric will be examined also, by using a flexible optical instrument.
A special frame from which the fabric will be suspended with magnets has been designed by Tom D'Muhala, president of an international nuclear decontamination firm in Connecticut. D'Muhala's chance reading of a book about the shroud led him to build and donate this equipment and to supervise logistics of the team's trip to Europe.
A formal proposal for the examinations was sent to authorities in Turin, along with a model of the frame and a unique three-dimensional model of the shroud figure, derived from image enhancement photographs.
Based on the relationship between image intensity (shades from black to white) and cloth-body distance, Air Force Academy professors and students built a cardboard model of the shroud's figure. They used slices of l/8-inch-thick cardboard to build up layers (similar in appearance to a topographical map) that form the frontal image of a 5-foot-10 man in a state of repose.
As the day of examination approaches, financial support for the American science team is still uncertain. "But we're going ahead with our plans," says Lynn, "because we are certain the funding will come from somewhere."
The cooperation of major business corporations has been tremendous, Lynn reports. Photographic and electronic equipment companies, including Polaroid, Kodak and the Brooks Institute of Photography have agreed to lend or donate facilities and equipment for the tests.
All the participants are donating their time, but money is needed for purchasing some equipment and for transporting people and equipment to Turin. Funds also are needed for the months, possibly years, needed to analyze the data.
Lynn and Lorre expect to provide a "quick look" report of their findings soon after the Turin exhibition. Both men speak of the event with expectation, still in awe of witnessing how technology is unlocking closed doors of history.
Please visit the [Internet Guide To The Shroud of Turin]
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