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Rebuttal to Joe Nickell Notes Lorenzi, Rossella- 2005. Turin shroud older than INQUIRER 28:4 (July/August), 69; with thought. News in Science (hnp://www.abc. 1. Ian Wilson (1998, 187) reported that the response by Joe Nickell. net.au/science/news/storics/s 1289491 .htm). 2005. Studies on die radiocarbon sample trimmings "are no longer extant." )anuary 26. from the Shroud of Turin. Thermochimica 2. Red lake colors like madder were specifically McCrone, Walter. 1996. Judgment Day for the -4CM 425: 189-194. used by medieval artists to overpaim vermilion in Turin Shroud. Chicago: Microscope Publi- Sox, H. David. 1981. Quoted in David F. Brown, depicting "blood" (Nickell 1998, 130). cations. Interview with H. David Sox, New Realities 3. Rogers (2004) does acknowledge that Nickell, Joe. 1998. Inquest on the Shroud of Turin: 4:1 (1981), 31. claims the blood is type AB "are nonsense." Latest Scientific Findings. Amherst, N.Y.: Turin shroud "older than thought." 2005. BBC Prometheus Books. News, January 27 (accessed at hnp://news. References . 2004. The Mystery Chronicles. Lexington, bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/—/2/hi/scicnce/naturc/421 Damon, P.E., et al. 1989. Radiocarbon dating of Ky.: The University Press of Kentucky. 0369.stm). the Shroud of Turin. Nature 337 (February): Rogers, Raymond N. 2004. Shroud not hoax, not Wilson, Ian. 1998. The Blood and the Shroud New 611-615. miracle. Letter to the editor, SKEPTICAL York: The Free Press. Rebuttal to Joe Nickell RAYMOND N. ROGERS oe Nickell has attacked my scien- results from Mark Anderson, his own an expert on chemical kinetics. I have a tific competence and honesty in his MOLE expert? medal for Exceptional Civilian Service "Claims of Invalid 'Shroud' Radio- Incidentally, I knew Walter since the from the U.S. Air Force, and I have Jcarbon Date Cut from Whole Cloth." 1950s and had compared explosives developed many microanalytical meth- Everything I have done investigating the data with him. I was the one who "com- ods. I was elected to be a Fellow of a shroud had die goal of testing some missioned" him to look at the samples national laboratory. A cloud still hangs hypothesis [Schwalbe, L.A., Rogers, that I took in Turin, when nobody else over Walter with regard to the Vinland R.N., "Physics and Chemistry of die would trust him. I designed the sam- map. Joe does not take his job as Shroud of Turin: Summary of the 1978 pling system and box, and I was the "Research Director" very seriously. If Investigation," Analytica Chimica Acta person who signed the paperwork in he thinks I am a "true believer," I will 135, 3 (1982); Rogers R. N., Arnoldi Turin so that I could hand-carry the put him solidly on the "far-right" A., "The Shroud of Turin: an amino- samples back to the U.S. T h e officials in lunatic fringe. carbonyl reaction (Maillard reaction) Turin and King Umberto would not Joe did not understand die mediod or may explain die image formation," in allow Walter to touch the relic. Walter importance of the results of die pyroly- Meianoidins vol. 4, Ames, J.M., ed., lied to me about how he would handle sis/mass spectrometry analyses, and I Office for Official Publications of the the samples, and he early ruined them doubt that he understands die funda- European Communities, Luxembourg, for additional chemical tests. mental science behind either visible/ 2003, pp. 106-113]. Incidentally, has anyone seen direct evi- ultraviolet spectrometry or fluorescence. My latest paper [Rogers, R. N., dence that Walter found Madder on the He certainly does not understand chemi- "Studies on the radiocarbon sample clodi? I can refute almost every claim he cal kinetics. If he wants to argue my from the Shroud of Turin," Thermo- made, and I debated the subject with results, I suggest that we stick to observa- chimica Acta 425/1-2, 189-194 his people at a Gordon Conference. I tions, natural laws, and facts. I am a skep- (2005)] is no exception. I accepted the can present my evidence as photomi- tic by nature, but I believe all skeptics radiocarbon results, and I believed crographs of classical tests, spectra, and should be held to the same ethical and that die "invisible reweave" claim was mass spectra. scientific standards we require of others. highly improbable. I used my samples Now Joe thinks I am a "Shroud of to test it. One of the greatest embar- Turin devotee," a "pro-authenticity Raymond N. Rogers rassments a scientist can face is to have researcher," and incompetent at micro- Fellow (Retired) to agree with die lunatic fringe. So, analysis. If he ever read any of my pro- University of California Joe, should I suppress the informa- fessional publications, he would know Los Alamos National Laboratory tion, as Walter McCrone did the that I have international recognition as Los Alamos, New Mexico 1 6 Volume 29. Issue 3 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER (and fellow researcher John Heller) "had Turin, apart from debates over sensitive Joe Nickell Replies: never before tackled anything remotely tests, powerful historical and other evi- like an artistic forgery." Apparently the dence still strongly indicates forgery. ay Rogers largely sidesteps my criti- same is true of Rogers. Why, then, were Regarding the rate of the shroud cisms. He claimed to have uniquely R they chosen for such important work? linen's vanillin loss, again Rogers is found cotton and madder on the Having taught FBI and other foren- drawing doubtful conclusions from lim- shroud's radiocarbon sample area—thus sic analysts, McCrone was termed "the ited samples. Moreover, the results supposedly indicating it came from an best-known forensic microanalyst in would have been affected not only by "invisible reweave." He admits this sce- the world" and his lab "the most com- the fire of 1532 but also by the cloth's nario seemed "highly improbable," hav- pletely equipped laboratory of its kind unknown storage conditions. This alter- ing come, he says, from "the lunatic in this country or the world." Rogers nate linen dating "test" is not an fringe" (shroud zealots). He is unhappy himself once conceded McCrone was accepted, proven one, but rather one that I disproved his claim by citing the "the best in the world" in his highly newly improvised, and Rogers's conclu- earlier discovery, elsewhere on the cloth, specialized field. sions are contradicted by much other of both cotton and madder. evidence. As to the additional analyses Rogers claims "A cloud still hangs over Rogers refers to, please see McCrones Rogers now questions that Walter Walter with regard to the Vinland Map." Judgement Day for the Turin Shroud McCrone actually discovered madder on In fact, as shown on a Nova television pro- (1996) and my Inquest on the Shroud of the cloth. If McCrone did not, how pre- gram February 8, 2005, tided "The Turin: Litest Scientific Findings (1998). scient of him to claim so, since its pres- Viking Deception," McCrones finding of ence would be confirmed over two a modern pigment, anatase, has been con- » * « decades later by Rogers! Rogers's belated firmed. Aldiougli McCrones conclusions discovery follows the death in 2002 of were once challenged by chemist Thomas Since writing the above, I am saddened McCrone, thus precluding his response. Cahill and colleagues, in 2002 scientists to learn of Ray's death (on March 8). I I have not said Rogers was not a using Raman microprobe spectroscopy know that he sincerely wanted to do research chemist, rather that he is not an proved that the Vinland Map's ink did good science, and I praised him in my expert in the field of detecting an forg- contain anatase. (See Katherine L. Brown book for backing away from his earlier and Robin J.H. Clark, 2002, "Analysis of eries. Rogers's pro-shroud colleague, position that the shroud image "was Pigmentary Materials on the Vinland Alan Adler (whom Rogers cited in his formed by a burst of radiant energy." He Map and Tartar Relation by Raman report), admitted that McCrone "had had the courage and integrity to dis- Microprobe Spectroscopy," Analytical over two decades of experience with this tance himself from shroud zealots, and I Chemistry 74 [15], 3658-3661.) With kind of problem and a worldwide repu- know that on many other issues he and the Vinland Map as with the Shroud of tation," whereas Adler conceded that he I would have been on the same side. • If you want to join the fight against superstition, irrationalism, pseudoscience, and deception attend THE FIRST IBERO-AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON CRITICAL THINKING: THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF DOGMATISM AND DECEPTION Science and Religion • Pseudoscience • Politics, Economy, and Mass Media Buenos Aires, Argentina—September 17 and 18, 2005 Lima, Peru—September 24 and 25, 2005 A select panel of scientists, investigators, journalists, and other professionals from Latin America, the United States, and Europe will speak about topics of interest and relevance to scientists, skeptics, and humanists. Science and Religion—Are they compatible? Can ethics exist without religion? Pseudoscience—"Alternative" medicine, parapsychology, UFOs, faith healers, psychic powers, and other mysteries. Social Effects of Deception: Politics, Economy, and Mass Media—How the public is deceived, and what we can do to stop it More information is available at . CSICOP www.pensar.org. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER May/June 2005 17 .
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