For centuries, Christians have attributed a 1st century date to the Shroud of Turin. Nuclear engineer Robert Rucker says his latest research on the shroud verifies this.
“The Shroud of Turin is humanity’s second most valuable possession after the Bible itself,” Rucker told EWTN News’ English-language agency CNA. The shroud is currently preserved in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, adjacent to the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin (Torino), Italy.
Receive the main news from ACI Prensa by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social media. Subscribe to our free channels today:
For more than 10 years, Rucker has studied the physics of the disappearance of Jesus’ body and its impression on the shroud. Your website, Shroud Researchchallenges conclusions that claim the shroud dates to the period 1260 to 1380 AD, leading skeptics to conclude that it is a medieval forgery.
In 1988, scientists used small samples cut from the shroud to determine the amount of carbon-14 isotopes they contained, destroying the samples in the process. The radioactive isotope carbon-14 is a variant of carbon that contains excess neutrons, which are particles smaller than atoms. Over time, carbon-14 breaks down to nitrogen-14 in organic materials such as bones and plant matter. The proportion of carbon-14 atoms remaining in a sample provides the data needed to estimate the age of the sample.
Rucker said his calculations show that the 1988 carbon-14 dating is flawed because it does not take into account the radiation emitted by Jesus’ body at the resurrection, which included neutrons that were absorbed by the shroud and formed new carbon-14 atoms. leading to misinterpretation of data.
“Carbon-14 dates can be wildly incorrect if something has changed the ratio of c-14 to c-12 in the sample, other than the decay of carbon-14,” Rucker explained. “There have been six different explanations for the carbon date of 1260-1380. The first explanation was in a letter to the editor of Nature magazine in 1989. Tom Philips, who has a PhD in particle physics, suggested to Nature that the most obvious explanation is that new carbon-14 atoms were produced by neutron absorption. in the shroud.
“That proposal,” Rucker said, “was never pursued until I did the nuclear analysis calculations in 2014.”
Rucker will offer a workshop on his research on October 6 and 7 at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, as well as professional certificates in nuclear engineering and mechanical engineering.
Backing his credentials are 38 years of experience in the nuclear energy industry, which requires performing nuclear analysis calculations related to nuclear reactor design and statistical analysis of experimental data. He has been researching the shroud since 2013 and has performed nuclear analysis calculations related to its date.
Paola Conti-Puorger, who has a doctorate in aerospace engineering and a postgraduate degree in shroud studies from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, is a parishioner of St. Thomas and manages its permanent exhibition Othonia on the shroud, which includes a photographic reproduction, a hologram in 3D and a bronze image of Jesus lying in the tomb before his resurrection, as revealed by the impression on the shroud.
Othonia is a research center based in Rome dedicated to preserving, promoting and disseminating knowledge about the shroud. It is part of the Institute of Science and Faith within the Ateneo.
“Rucker has studied the shroud for years and can offer an authoritative word on the scientific research on it,” he told CNA.
“The shroud is the best news we can receive in this life: that our sins are forgiven, that we are loved, that we have an important dignity, that we are called to this image within ourselves and that we are called to love with the same love.” . This is the truth and the true happiness of humanity,” Conti-Puorger said.
“It is like contemplating the Gospel and seeing it very alive. Like the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ are there. This is a living presence. “It is not a relic,” he added.
In 2015, Pope Francis prayed before the shroud and during an Angelus address said: “The shroud draws us to the face and martyred body of Jesus.”
He continued: “At the same time, it pushes us into the face of every person who suffers and is unjustly persecuted. “It pushes us in the same direction as Jesus’ gift of love.”
Neither the pope nor his immediate predecessors have made any statements about the authenticity of the shroud.
The shroud has been venerated for centuries in northern Italy, where it was guarded by the powerful Savoy family. In 1983, the property was granted to the Pope. When it was exhibited in 1898, photography was permitted. It was shown to be a natural negative image and beyond the competence of a medieval forger.
In 1981, an international team of scientists from the Shroud of Turin Research Project determined that the image depicts a “whipped and crucified man” that was not produced by an artist. He said it tested positive for blood. But how the image was produced is a problem that “remains unresolved.”
“The shroud came looking for us,” Conti-Puorger said. “He came to St. Thomas providentially, so I believe it is the Lord himself who calls people to come.”
“There are people who are looking for a lot of things,” Father Bill Ashbaugh, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, told CNA. “They often think that science contradicts faith. But it is quite the opposite. “Science helps faith.”
Translated and adapted by ACI Prensa. Originally published in CNA.
Martin Barillas
Martín Barillas is a writer and translator, and was a US diplomat in Europe and South America. A lifelong Catholic, he resides in Michigan with his wife Alice and their four children and grandson. He has written on various topics, such as human rights, politics and religion. He is also a novelist.