www.metalog.org/files/shroud1.html
Computer-enhanced ultraviolet image of the Turin
Shroud,
processed (1976) by Dr Donald Lynn &
Dr Jean Lorre,
Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California USA.
A
history of this computer-imaging project on the Shroud.
A complete review of the ongoing Shroud
investigations
is online at www.shroud.com
(maintained by Barrie Schwortz).
Frontal-dorsal image in positive.
The Shroud of Turin Research Project
(STURP: members),
summary
of conclusions from the 1978 testing.
(After years of exhaustive study and evaluation of
the data, STURP
issued its Final Report in 1981.
The following official
conclusions are reproduced verbatim from that report, from
www.shroud.com/78conclu.htm.)
No pigments, paints, dyes
or stains have been found on the fibrils. X-ray, fluorescence and
microchemistry on the fibrils preclude the possibility of paint being
used as a method for creating the image. Ultraviolet and infrared
evaluation confirm these studies. Computer image enhancement and
analysis by a device known as a VP-8 image analyzer show that the
image has unique, three-dimensional information encoded in it.
Microchemical evaluation has indicated no evidence of any spices,
oils, or any biochemicals known to be produced by the body in life or
in death. It is clear that there has been a direct contact of the
Shroud with a body, which explains certain features such as scourge
marks, as well as the blood. However, while this type of contact
might explain some of the features of the torso, it is totally
incapable of explaining the image of the face with the high
resolution that has been amply demonstrated by photography. The basic
problem from a scientific point of view is that some explanations
which might be tenable from a chemical point of view, are precluded
by physics. Contrariwise, certain physical explanations which may be
attractive are completely precluded by the chemistry. For an adequate
explanation for the image of the Shroud, one must have an explanation
which is scientifically sound, from a physical, chemical, biological
and medical viewpoint. At the present, this type of solution does not
appear to be obtainable by the best efforts of the members of the
Shroud Team. Furthermore, experiments in physics and chemistry with
old linen have failed to reproduce adequately the phenomenon
presented by the Shroud of Turin. The scientific consensus is that
the image was produced by something which resulted in oxidation,
dehydration and conjugation of the polysaccharide structure of the
microfibrils of the linen itself. Such changes can be duplicated in
the laboratory by certain chemical and physical processes. A similar
type of change in linen can be obtained by sulfuric acid or heat.
However, there are no chemical or physical methods known which can
account for the totality of the image, nor can any combination of
physical, chemical, biological or medical circumstances explain the
image adequately.
Thus, the
answer to the question of how the image was produced or what produced
the image remains, now, as it has in the past, a mystery.
We can conclude for now that the Shroud image is that of a real human
form of a scourged, crucified man. It is not the product of an
artist. The bloodstains are composed of hemoglobin and also give a
positive test for serum albumin. The image is an ongoing mystery and
until further chemical studies are made, perhaps by this group of
scientists, or perhaps by some scientists in the future, the problem
remains unsolved.
1988
Carbon-14 tests invalidated, by Dr Raymond
Rogers (foto)
of the STURP
team,
author of the important A
Chemist's Perspective on the Shroud of Turin
(2008):
Summary
1 , 2
; References 1 , 2
, 3 , 4
.
Shroud Science Group International Conference VIII.08: press release.
Joseph Marino & Edwin Prior, The Anomalous Nature of the C-14 Sample of the Shroud of Turin.
The
superlative BBC documentary The
Silent Witness can
now be downloaded for only
$8:
www.performancefilms.co.uk/html/store.html.
