Music for the presentation by:
Julie D. Larsone-mail
"About 99.9% of the Star of Bethlehem stuff is nutty, but this isn't that. It's well-researched and reasonable."—Ronald A. Schorn, Ph.D.—Schorn founded and served as Chief of the Planetary Astronomy department at NASA and was Technical Editor of Sky & Telescope magazine. He is the author of Planetary Astronomy.
"The integration of astronomical data and ancient inscriptional evidence models the scientific method at its best."—Eugene H. Merrill, Ph.D.—Distinguished Professor of Old Testament StudiesDallas Theological SeminaryMerrill regularly contributes to leading journals, periodicals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and commentaries. He is the author of numerous books and a scholar of Biblical chronology.
"Your wide-ranging and insightful scholarship in the Scriptures and in the parallel historical record from Josephus, Tacitus and the rest! Your command of Kepler's clock!!... My hat is off to you."—Gerard Piel, Ph.D.—Former Publisher and Editor, Scientific American magazinePiel (1915-2004) was the holder of over twenty honorary doctorates. He published and edited Scientific American for nearly four decades, and served as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A prolific writer, his last book is The Age of Science: What Scientists Learned in the Twentieth Century.
The discovery adds new complexity to one of the most controversial relics in Christendom, venerated by many Catholics as the proof that Christ was resurrected from the grave and dismissed by some scientists as a brilliant medieval fake.
The study, which will be published on Tuesday by one of the journals of the Institute of Physics, the Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics, examined the back surface of the famous handwoven linen.
The front side of the shroud, on which the smudged outline of the body of a man is indelibly impressed, has been investigated by a multitude of scientists. But the reverse side has remained hidden for centuries beneath a piece of Holland cloth that was sewn by nuns in 1534, after a fire had blackened parts of it.
The cloth's back surface was fully scrutinized only in 2002, when the 14-foot-long linen was completely unstitched from the Holland cloth during a restoration project.
To the naked eye, the back surface of the shroud showed almost nothing, apart from a peculiar stitching which Mechtild Flury-Lemberg, the Swiss textile expert who performed the restoration work, identified as a style seen in the first century A.D. or before.
The back surface, however, was photographed in detail and the pictures published in a book by Mons. Giuseppe Ghiberti, one of the church's top Shroud officials. At the end of the restoration, a new reinforcing cloth was sewn back in place, hiding again the shroud's reverse side.
"As I saw the pictures in the book, I was caught by the perception of a faint image on the back surface of the shroud. I thought that perhaps there was much more that wasn't visible to the naked eye," Giulio Fanti, professor of Mechanical and Thermic Measurements at Padua University and main author of the study, told Discovery News.
Using sophisticated image processing based on direct and inverse Fourier transform, enhancement and template-matching techniques on Ghiberti's pictures, Fanti uncovered the image of a man's face.
Lying behind the known image of the bearded man bearing the marks of crucifixion, the new image has striking three-dimensional quality and matches in form, size and position the known face.
"Though the image is very faint, features such as nose, eyes, hair, beard and moustache are clearly visible. There are some slight differences with the known face. For example, the nose on the reverse side shows the same extension of both nostrils, unlike the front side, in which the right nostril is less evident," Fanti said.
However, the enhancing procedure did not uncover the full body image as it appears on the front side.
"If it does exist, it is masked by the noise of the digital image itself. But we found what it is probably the image of the hands," Fanti said.
The presence of a face on both sides of the shroud would seem an obvious feature in case of a fake: when making a print onto a cloth, paint soaks the cloth's fibers reaching also the back side.
"This is not the case of the Shroud. On both sides, the face image is superficial, involving only the outermost linen fibers. When a cross-section of the fabric is made, one extremely superficial image appears above and one below, but there is nothing in the middle. It is extremely difficult to make a fake with these features," Fanti said.
According to the scientist, this double superficiality could be crucial to answer the central, unanswered question of how the image of that man got onto the cloth.
Shroud History
Scientific interest in linen cloth began in 1898, when it was photographed by lawyer Secondo Pia. The negatives revealed the image of a bearded man with pierced wrists and feet and a bloodstained head.
In 1988, the Vatican approved carbon-dating tests. Three reputable laboratories in Oxford, Zurich and Tucson, Ariz., concluded that the Shroud was medieval, dating from 1260 to 1390, and not a burial cloth wrapped around the body of Christ.
But since then a growing sense that the radiocarbon dating might have had substantial flaws has emerged among shroud scholars.
Fanti's finding matches a hypothesis postulated in 1990 by John Jackson, an American physicist who conducted the first major investigation into the shroud in 1978. Jackson speculated the presence of a faint image on the back surface of the shroud, only in correspondence to the frontal image.
The history of the cloth has been steeped in mystery. It has survived several blazes since its existence was first recorded in France in 1357, including a mysterious fire at Turin Cathedral in 1997.
Kept rolled up in a silver casket, it has been on display only five times in the past century. When it last went on display in 2000, more than three million people saw it. The next display will be in 2025.
“It is my considered opinion, having been involved in reporting on the evidence for the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin for over 20 years that it is the real article. The amassed evidence for its authenticity is indisputable! I arrived at this conclusion after an interview with Dr. Alan Adler who did the original blood analysis on the Shroud. I recorded this interview prior to Alan’s unexpected death in 2000. The Pope is to visit the Shroud on its non scheduled public viewing in the spring of 2010, just ten years after the Exposition in the jubilee year; the Shroud will once again be on display in the Cathedral of Torino starting on 10 April to 23 May. In 2010, and for the first time, it will be possible to see the Holy Shroud following the intervention it underwent in 2002: a conservation and restoration operation during which pieces of cloth that had been burned in the Chambery fire of 1532, and the various “patches” applied by the Poor Clares, were removed, together with the Holland cloth to which the Shroud had been fastened in 1534, with the Holy Linen now placed on a new support. Peter J. Shield PhD.
The Shroud of Turin! The Man on the Shroud! He was naked. He was 6 ft. tall. He wore a beard and shoulder length hair. He had an enlarged chest from trying to breath. He had been beaten with a Roman Flagrum. He had puncture marks on his skull. He had bled whilst upright on the cross. He had suffered most of his wounds whilst alive. Wound on his side with no swelling, indicating that the wound happened after he had died. Other signs and clues – Dirt on his knees and the tip of his nose is reported to contain minerals found in the Palestine region! Blood smears from the upper shoulder part of the shroud are thought to be microscopic Oak wood remains! Pollen has been found on the shroud’s surface from plants found only in Jerusalem! HISTORY OF THE SHROUD!• According to the Catholic Church’s calculations the resurrection took place on Sunday morning April 9th AD 30. • AD 30 – Edessa,400 miles from Jerusalem, King Abgar receives cloth with image of a man believed to be Jesus (Painting at St. Catherine’s, Sinai) • AD 222-230 Mandylion. • AD 550 Pantocrator Image (St. Catherine’s) • AD 944 Mandylion moved to Constantinople. • AD 1204-1307 Knights Templar – France and England. • AD 1578 – Turin Italy!
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI confirmed his intention to visit the Shroud of Turin when it goes on public display in Turin's cathedral April 10-May 23, 2010. Cardinal Severino Poletto of Turin, papal custodian of the Shroud of Turin, visited the pope July 26 in Les Combes, Italy, where the pope was spending part of his vacation. The Alpine village is about 85 miles from Turin. The cardinal gave the pope the latest news concerning preparations for next year's public exposition of the shroud and the pope "confirmed his intention to go to Turin for the occasion," said the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, in a written statement July 27. The specific date of the papal visit has yet to be determined, the priest added. The last time the Shroud of Turin was displayed to the public was in 2000 for the jubilee year. The shroud is removed from a specially designed protective case only for very special spiritual occasions, and its removal for study or display to the public must be approved by the pope. The shroud underwent major cleaning and restoration in 2002. According to tradition, the 14-foot-by-4-foot linen cloth is the burial shroud of Jesus. The shroud has a full-length photonegative image of a man, front and back, bearing signs of wounds that correspond to the Gospel accounts of the torture Jesus endured in his passion and death. The church has never officially ruled on the shroud's authenticity, saying judgments about its age and origin belonged to scientific investigation. Scientists have debated its authenticity for decades, and studies have led to conflicting results. A recent study by French scientist Thierry Castex has revealed that on the shroud are traces of words in Aramaic spelled with Hebrew letters. A Vatican researcher, Barbara Frale, told Vatican Radio July 26 that her own studies suggest the letters on the shroud were written more than 1,800 years ago. She said that in 1978 a Latin professor in Milan noticed Aramaic writing on the shroud and in 1989 scholars discovered Hebrew characters that probably were portions of the phrase "The king of the Jews." Castex's recent discovery of the word "found" with another word next to it, which still has to be deciphered, "together may mean 'because found' or 'we found,'" she said. What is interesting, she said, is that it recalls a passage in the Gospel of St. Luke, "We found this man misleading our people," which was what several Jewish leaders told Pontius Pilate when they asked him to condemn Jesus. She said it would not be unusual for something to be written on a burial cloth in order to indicate the identity of the deceased. Frale, who is a researcher at the Vatican Secret Archives, has written a new book on the shroud and the Knights Templar, the medieval crusading order which, she says, may have held secret custody of the Shroud of Turin during the 13th and 14th centuries. She told Vatican Radio that she has studied the writings on the shroud in an effort to find out if the Knights had written them. "When I analyzed these writings, I saw that they had nothing to do with the Templars because they were written at least 1,000 years before the Order of the Temple was founded" in the 12th century, she said.
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One of the most interesting interpretations of the cave paintings at Lascaux in France is that the paintings were actually animal representations of the zodiac.
A paper was presented at the International Symposium of Prehistoric Art in Italy, which stated the belief that the cave paintings at Lascaux were records of the zodiac constellations, fixed stars and the solstice points. Chantal Jeques - Wolkiewiez showed that all the constellations of the zodiac except Aquarius and part of Pisces are represented by the animals of that time. She believed that this together with the presence of the setting sun demonstrated that the painters were remarkable observers of the sky.
If this is indeed the case, early man preceded the Babylonian astronomers by 10,000 years. [AMAIC comment: "No, there is no way that the Lascaux cave paintings date back as far as 17,000 BC]. To have done this early man would have had to measure distances between stars and Jegues - Wolkiewiez believes they did this with sticks as rulers, she believes that they were already using the stars as heavenly guides to find the position of the stars that were not visible above the horizon. She and a colleague studied the paintings carefully, keeping in mind that the sky then was different from ours today. They made measurements with an astronomical compass, and conjectured that the rays of the setting sun at the summer solstice penetrated into the cave and touched certain paintings. She checked her theory on the summer solstice, June 21st 1999, and saw that the setting sun hit the entrance for 15 minutes, and lit up the painting of the Red Bull on the back wall of the Hall of Bulls.
Taurus the Bull depicted in a cave painting
In the prehistoric zodiac, the constellation Taurus – the Bull – culminated in the summer solstice. The entire Hall of Bulls is proposed to correspond to the constellation of Taurus. There is a picture of two bulls facing each other, these align with the constellations of Taurus and Scorpio, which are not in the sky at the same time, so strengthens the theory that prehistoric man possessed a direct knowledge of astronomy, and also mathematics as they may have had the ability to calculate and project the positions of the stars regardless of their visibility.....
2009 is International Year of Astronomy. The Paleolithic cave printings at Lascaux, France, have long been seen as astonishing examples of the artistic capacity of prehistoric cultures. But are they more then that? It is commonly known that 35,000 years ago, humans were brutish and primitive and their main activities were copulation, hunting and gathering. But what if this prehistoric human was clever enough to develop in depth scientific knowledge? As unlikely as it may seem, new data prove that these humans actually invented astronomy.
For the last 20 years, Chantal Jegues-Wolkiewiez, an independent astronomer and ethnologist, has led a rigorous investigation to prove this theory. According to her studies, hunter gatherers spent long nights observing the sky, calculating, and recording their discoveries either on the walls of caves or on animal bones. Thanks to their analyses they could measure time and adapt to weather change. In Preshistoric Astronomers, Jegues-Wolkiewiez shares her stunning conclusions that Prehistoric men chose their caves according to the orientation of the sun, created measuring tools such as a lunar calendar, and their wall paintings were the first maps of the sky and stars.
Today, these fascinating discoveries are gradually gaining respect in the international science community.
“As a spiritual phenomenon the Shroud should be left to theology to discuss,” said Dame Isabel Piczek, a particle physicist and monumental artist of international repute. “But the bodily resurrection, the Shroud of Turin and the whole circumstance of the image on the Shroud involves matter, although matter seen in a startlingly different way. What we have here is probably a new branch of quantum physics that will tell us new findings about our universe.”
From GRIZZLY ADAMS® PRODUCTIONS, INC.
DENVER, CO — While former “Titanic” director James Cameron’s recent documentary, The “Lost Tomb of Jesus,” makes what scholars believe to be an unscholarly and poorly documented attempt to refute Christ’s Resurrection, the world premiere of “The Fabric of Time : Secrets of the Universe” reveals new evidence of Christ’s Resurrection through numerous scientific disciplines. ....
Produced by Grizzly Adams Productions with a team of 28 veteran scientific researchers, historians, forensic scientists, botanists, theologians, and biblical archaeologists, the feature-length program analyzes historic records, an ancient burial shroud, current medical knowledge, and scripture to build a compelling case for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“When viewers see our show that scientifically examines the 2000-year-old burial cloth which many scientists now believe wrapped the crucified body of Jesus Christ, there will be no doubt about how baseless and full of holes James Cameron’s ‘Lost Tomb’ show really is that aired on the Discovery Channel,” says David Balsiger, senior producer of “The Fabric of Time” documentary.
Startling new discoveries by physicists and other scientists around the world are shedding new light on one of the world’s most controversial and revered artifact, an ancient burial cloth known as the Shroud of Turin. Even though this piece of linen has been revered by millions of people the world over for two thousand years as the true burial shroud of Jesus Christ, that belief was swept aside by Carbon 14 (C14) tests in 1988 which concluded the fabric itself was of medieval origin. Science, it seemed, had trumped faith. But had it ?
Even though three labs each separately determined that the cloth was 600-700 years old dating to about 1350 A.D., the Grizzly Adams show will reveal new scientific evidence by the late Ray Rogers, a Los Alamos National Laboratory chemist, that proves the C-14 test was in fact done on a rewoven and patched area of the shroud after a fire destroyed portions of the burial cloth in 1532. The C-14 date is accurate for the patch but not the Shroud.
“As a spiritual phenomenon the Shroud should be left to theology to discuss,” said Dame Isabel Piczek, a particle physicist and monumental artist of international repute. “But the bodily resurrection, the Shroud of Turin and the whole circumstance of the image on the Shroud involves matter, although matter seen in a startlingly different way. What we have here is probably a new branch of quantum physics that will tell us new findings about our universe.”
The Shroud is a piece of ancient linen cloth 14 feet 3 inches long by 3 feet 7 inches wide. It contains a negative image of a man who appears to have been severely beaten and crucified. The front and backside of the man’s body are imprinted on the burial cloth. By using laser technology, two-dimensional photographic negatives of the image become anatomically accurate three-dimensional holograms of a man. Identifying this man and discovering the process that created such a scientifically advanced image of a human body thousands of years ago has captivated scientists and scholars for centuries.
Balsiger noted that throughout history thinking men and women have wrestled with the question : Does indisputable evidence exist to prove the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ ? “We’ve researched all the relevant elements to which thoughtful people appeal when addressing this timeless theme. We feel strongly that ‘The Fabric of Time’ will convince the most skeptical observer about the historical legitimacy of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection.”
The film reveals that following His death, Jesus was seen by numerous people, both believers and non-believers. “There were at least 500 eyewitnesses in and around Jerusalem who actually saw or talked with Jesus after his resurrection,” explained Balsiger. “Beyond the Bible, there are more than 20 non-Christian sources written between 30 and 130 A.D. that refer to Jesus of Nazareth as a historical figure. Twelve mention his death and provide details on how he died. Ten of these refer to his resurrection.”
One of the most fascinating parts of the program shows how holographic scientists in Holland created a three-dimensional holographic image of the Shroud face and body of Jesus Christ. « In all nearly fifty scientific discoveries on the Shroud tie this burial cloth to the biblical account of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, » said Balsiger.
“Viewers will see the newly discovered scientific information presented by scientists and scholars that gives a never before seen up-close look at a three-dimensional view of the face of Christ and His entire body,” said Dr. Petrus Soons, who directed the holographic research with laser scientists in Holland. “It’s absolutely breathtaking. This is truly historic—it is an image the world has never seen.”
Dame Piczek thinks that the image was created in an infinitesimally small fraction of a second. But, she says, the image may have been created by a complex process arising as Christ’s body passed from one form of existence into another. She notes that it may be "Something akin to the Big Bang, but at the opposite end of the creation continuum—a portal opens into a new science and eventually into a new form of human existence.”
In 2004, Dame Piczek, working independently made a discovery that could change everything we think we know about the world we live in. Time, space and energy apparently interact in a way never before predicted. This discovery soon received support from two completely independent sources : a group of laser scientists and a former U.S. Apollo astronaut. According to some observers, this new information could ignite a scientific revolution, or perhaps even provide something much more important to mankind . . . like the secrets of life itself . . . perhaps even eternal life.
Dame Piczek, was fascinated by the total lack of distortion on the Shroud image, a physical impossibility if the body had been lying on solid rock. She created a full-sized, three-dimensional reproduction of the body and discovered what she believes to be a true “event horizon,” or, a moment when all the laws of physics change drastically.
“Two things are immediately obvious ; the image-forming action at a distance had ‘nothing to do with gravity’ . . . and the new field does not have an anti-field, otherwise the two images would not show the same exact system,” says Dame Piczek. “Summarizing all of these qualities, the Shroud puts us in the realm of raw creation . . . we have nothing less in the tomb of Christ than the beginning of a new Universe.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, a former U.S. Apollo astronaut, the 6th man to walk on the moon and the founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, was also searching for a way to describe the quantum universe and came up with his own discovery. In the show, according to Dr. Mitchell : “If you analyze all the emissions from any physical object . . . that’s called a quantum hologram, and what we now know that we didn’t know before is that every object is a quantum object !”
Forensic scientists and chemists have determined that the bloodstains on the shroud are real human blood and contain DNA. Botanists and paleontologists have identified pollen grains on the shroud fibers as coming from various plants, some of which grow only within the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem. Other images on the shroud—flower blossoms and an identifiable coin on each eye (both Pontius Pilate widow’s mite coins minted between 29 and 33 A.D.)—have been examined in microscopic detail.
Joseph Meier, writer and producer of the program pointed out that, “Everyone who has seen the holographic images believes they solve the mystery of what Christ really looked like and agrees that, taken as a whole, it appears the Shroud provides ample scientific evidence of the literal Resurrection of Christ. It just might be,” he continued, “that instead of science proving the Shroud is authentic . . . the image on the Shroud is proving the accuracy of the science.”
Grizzly Adams Productions in-part based the TV Special/DVD on two books by Oxford-educated author Ian Wilson : New York Times bestseller “The Shroud of Turin,” (Doubleday) and “The Blood and the Shroud” (Touchstone), as well as “The Shroud of Turin” (Providence House) by Dr. Alan Whanger and his wife, Mary.
Interviewees Available : (1) David Balsiger, Senior Producer of “The Case for Christ’s Resurrection” and “Fabric of Time : Secrets of the Universe,” (2) Tom D’Muhala, President of American Shroud of Turin Association for Research (AMSTAR) and former President of STRUP (Shroud of Turin Research Project, Inc.), or (3) Michael Minor, author of “A Lawyer Argues for the Authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.” Call Ann Strauss at (970) 663-3820.
According to modern spacecraft propulsion theory, rockets are launched, to quote M. Williamson, in the"same direction as the earth's rotation, thus saving energy by imparting a velocity of almost 1700 km ... second booster - the apogee kick motor (AKM) ...".
M. Williamson 1984 Physics in Technology15 284-90.
Robert Sungenis of the Bellarmine Theological Forum, however, has commented differently (in a recent e-mail), that:
"As for the supposed boost, the same forces will be present in a rotating universe around a fixed earth as a rotating earth in a fixed universe. All centrifugal, Coriolis and Euler forces will be identical. This has been shown mathematically by Barbour and Bertotti and many others, including Einstein himself. That's why Einstein said there is no difference between the two models".
