Indoor Air Quality, 3rd Edition

15

Forensics of Environmental Dust

Although microscopy is viewed by many as a technological dinosaur, it is limited only in its failure to be recognized for its versatility. It is of interest that Dr. Walter C. McCrone dated the Shroud of Turin in 1980 based solely on observations made with a polarized light microscope, which he confirmed later by X-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analysis. Pigment and cloth samples had been lifted by tape from the Shroud to leave it fully intact and undamaged. Dr. McCrone concluded that the image had been painted just prior to the Shroud's first exhibition in 1356. Yet his conclusions left him a very unpopular man! He was scorned as a charlatan by those who wished to believe the Shroud's authenticity ...