Pia vindicated
In 1898, Secondo Pia was given the opportunity to photograph The Shroud of Turin with his rudimentary camera.
The images he subsequently developed in his darkroom at home astounded many but angered thousands more who derided him with accusations that he doctored the photographs.
Pia wrote that he trembled when the plate of the negative image became clear.
Fast forward to 1931 and a noted photographer named Giuseppe Enrie was given the same opportunity to photograph The Shroud with a much more advanced camera.
Mr. Pia surely breathed a sigh of relief as his reputation was restored because the new photos were very similar to his own.
Fast forward yet again to 1988 and skeptics around the globe rejoiced when carbon 14 dating tests gave a date of between 1260 and 1390 for the cloth.
One would think this pronouncement would have quashed subsequent scientific research into the origin of The Shroud.
Wrong.
Investigation has only intensified in the last 35 years to see if a medieval artist/forger could have created the image as uneducated doubters have proclaimed.
Here’s what scientists agree upon.
The hypothetical 13-14th century artist must have been an absolute genius to transfer the image to the cloth affecting on the very top fibrils.
An expert writes that only the top 200-500 nanometers display the image and that no directionality can be detected. You might wonder the width of the above numbers.
It’s approximately 1/20th. the width of a human hair.
And…as for directionality, even Picasso, Rembrandt, and Leonardo da Vinci’s brush strokes are evident.
Given these facts, no scientist believes an artist created this image as no trace of paint, pigment, dye, stain, or scorch has ever been found.
Stay tuned as science continues to unravel the mysteries of the cloth.
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