Bob's Research

A shroud is a piece of cloth in which a person is buried. The Shroud of Turin refers to a particular burial cloth that has been in Turin, Italy, since 1578. The Shroud of Turin is one of the most mysterious and potentially significant items in human possession. This is because ancient tradition claims it to be the authentic burial cloth of Jesus Christ. This claim is supported by the full size front and dorsal (back) images on the Shroud of a man that was crucified exactly as Jesus was crucified according to the Gospels in the New Testament, yet the images are not due to pigment, scorch, liquid, or photography. The main mysteries of the Shroud include how the images were formed, the carbon dating of the Shroud, and the nature of the blood on the Shroud.

There is no known example of a human body producing an image of itself on a piece of cloth, except for the Shroud of Turin. In our current understanding of physics, there is no mechanism or process that can do this. Yet, in the Shroud, there is evidence a dead human body produced an image of itself on linen cloth. From the perspective of science, this unique encoding event appears to require a unique process or mechanism that is outside or beyond our current understanding of physics. Thus, to help humanity gain a more complete and accurate understanding of reality, further scientific testing should be performed on this unique historical relic. This paper has discussed what is visible on the Shroud, its history and materials, the history of Shroud research, and questions along with methods to be used in further testing. The main mysteries to be explained were identified as the image, carbon dating, and certain features of the blood that is now on the cloth. To explain these mysteries, the evidence on the Shroud should be followed where it leads, with a neutral mindset not restricted by presuppositions. Many papers have been written attempting to explain a single mystery, but the hypothesis of an extremely brief intense burst of radiation from the body is attractive because it can explain features of all three mysteries: • We can see the image because the information that defines the appearance of a crucified man has been encoded into the pattern of discolored fibers on the cloth. To form the image with good resolution, this information could only be transferred from the body to the cloth by radiation. The density of the image at any point is a function of the vertical distance between the body and the cloth, which is the 3D information encoded into the image. This is best explained by an extremely brief intense burst of vertically collimated radiation, probably charged particles, emitted in the body that was deposited on the cloth. This radiation delivered to the cloth the information required to control the discoloration mechanism so that the image could be formed. It is hypothesized that this radiation, which carried the required information, was absorbed on the cloth causing an electrical discharge from the top fibers facing the body. This caused electrical heating and/or ozone production which led to the discoloration of the fibers in the pattern that can be recognized as a crucified man. 13 • If neutrons were present in this burst of radiation, it would explain how the carbon date could be shifted from the time of Jesus’ death, about 33 AD, to the carbon date of 1260- 1390. This would occur due to new C14 produced on the Shroud by neutron absorption in the trace amount of nitrogen in the cloth by the N14(n,p)C14 reaction. • If this burst of radiation from the body were sufficiently brief and sufficiently intense, it would thrust blood, wet or dry, off the body onto the cloth by a natural process called radiation pressure. This hypothesis was discussed to suggest experiments that should be included in development of a program for future testing of the Shroud. To assist in developing such a testing program, please send an email to robertarucker@yahoo.com

Recent developments in modern science provide us with new exciting insights on these mysteries. To inform people in Australia about recent progress in understanding the mysteries of the Shroud, a conference and other events starting in November, 2022, are being arranged by an organization called “Shroud of Turin Australia” (SOTAU)

The Shroud of Turin Australia (SOTAU) events are scheduled to be held in late 2022

Register your interest here