MadSci Network: Other
Query:

Re: How does science explain the appearance of a face on the Shorud of Turin

Date: Wed Sep 6 11:49:13 2000
Posted By: Dan Berger, Faculty Chemistry/Science, Bluffton College
Area of science: Other
ID: 967956352.Ot
Message:

positive of the face from the Shroud; from the Archdiocese of Turin's 
website
negative of the face from the Shroud; from the Archdiocese of Turin's 
website
icon 
of the face from the Shroud; from the Archdiocese of Turin's website
How does science explain the appearance of a face on the Shroud of Turin that appears when photographs are taken and yet is not visible normally.
The explanation is quite simple. The face does NOT fit the description you give above. It is perfectly visible to the human eye (see the top image) but has the properties of a photographic negative or a contact print: normal highlights appear dark and shadows appear light. A photographic negative of the Shroud (the middle image) shows a more normal face.

Nevertheless, the face on the Shroud is clear enough as a positive image that iconic images of Jesus have been based on the Shroud for centuries. Icons of Christ from the 5th Century or so (notably the "mandillion" shown in the bottom image) are, so tradition says, based on an image of Jesus miraculously transferred to a linen cloth; and many Rennaissance images of Christ were based on the Shroud when it was first displayed during the 14th and 15th Centuries.

Further resources:

Dan Berger
Bluffton College
http://cs.bluffton.edu/~berger



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