1st Edition

Relic, Icon or Hoax? Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud

By Harry E Gove Copyright 1996
    336 Pages
    by CRC Press

    Interest in the Turin Shroud continues to the present day even though it was finally carbon dated in 1988 and shown not to be of an age consistent with Christ's burial. Scientifically, the age of the shroud cloth is of little consequence, but to the general public, it is of considerable significance.

    The author Harry E. Gove is a co-inventor of accelerator mass spectrometry and was responsible for its use in establishing whether the Turin Shroud could have been Christ's burial cloth. Relic, Icon or Hoax?: Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud presents an eyewitness account of the events that culminated in the final determination of the age of the linen cloth of the Turin Shroud and some of the subsequent reactions to the results. The book discusses the application of accelerator mass spectrometry to the carbon dating of the Turin Shroud using samples only a few square centimeters in area and weighing only a few tens of milligrams.

    Foreword by D. Allen Bromley, Yale University, President-elect of the American Physical Society, and former scientific adviser to the U.S. President
    Acknowledgments
    An Introduction to the Turin Shroud and to Carbon Dating
    The 1978 International Congress on the Shroud
    Interactions with STURP
    Interlab Tests, Trondheim, Preparations for the Turin Workshop
    The Postponement Frenzy
    The Turin Workshop
    Dating Delay
    Dating Labs Announced, Unity Attempts
    Laboratories Accept, Samples Removed from Shroud
    Shroud Dated, Public Rumors of a 14th-Century Date
    Results Announced, Reactions
    Cast of Characters
    Chronology
    Index

    Biography

    Harry E Gove

    "This is a fascinating and unusual book; it is a very personal memoir, and it provides a rare window into the sometimes surprising workings of both science and religion."
    -D. Allan Bromley, Professor of Science and Dean of Engineering, Yale University and President Elect of the American Physical Society

    "This extraordinary book recounts the drama and intrigues involved in carbon dating the Shroud of Turin with a frankness usually found only in the pages of a diary. Required reading."
    -Dorothy Crispino, Editor and Publisher, Shroud Spectrum International

    "… a very readable and worthwhile book."
    -De La Salle University, Philippines