Biographies of Authors and Presenters

Almenar, Jorge Manuel Rodrigues – He lives in Valencia, Spain. He is scheduled to present his Doctoral Thesis in Art History: "The Shroud and its implications Historical-artistic" on July 18, 2017. Since 1994 he is a full time Professor in the Civil Law Department at the University of Valencia. He is also the President of the Spanish Center for Sindonology (Centro Español de Sindonología - CES). Presentation(s):
14. “The image of Edessa included the whole body but only its empty reliquary arrived at Paris” by Cesar Barta and Jorge Manuel Rodriguez Almenar (30 minutes, presented by Cesar Barta)

Antonacci, Mark - Mark is an attorney and author who has studied all aspects of the Shroud for over 35 years, and is the founder and president of Test the Shroud Foundation. He wrote The Resurrection of the Shroud (New York: M. Evans and Co., 2000), the most comprehensive book ever written on the Shroud until his recent book, Test the Shroud, was published in 2016. He has proposed that a new series of minimally-invasive and non-destructive tests be performed on the Shroud at its atomic, molecular and other levels. He has written a scientific hypothesis that not only explains the Shroud’s body images, but also its radiocarbon dating, its excellent condition, its pristine human blood marks, their still-red coloration, the possible outer side imaging, coin features and flower images, skeletal features and all of its other unique features. This hypothesis has been published in a peer reviewed scientific journal, and although it involves a miraculous event consistent with the resurrection, its occurrence can be scientifically tested. He asserts that new proposed tests could prove whether the Shroud was irradiated with particle radiation; whether the source was the length, width and depth of the crucified corpse in the cloth; when this event happened; where it occurred; the age of the Shroud and its blood; and the identity of the victim. He asserts this technology could also test all other natural or artistic explanations for the Shroud’s images or its radiocarbon dating. Presentation(s):

27. “Was the Shroud of Turin Invisibly Rewoven with Foreign Material at the Radiocarbon Site to Match the Rest of the Cloth?” (20 minutes)

36. “Naturalistic Processes for Image Formation” (15 minutes)

47. “Evidence for Image Formation by a Cloth Collapse Model” (30 minutes)

51. “Where are We Now and Where do we go from Here?” (20 minutes)


Baldacchini, Giuseppe - Giuseppe Baldacchini received the degree in physics from the University of Rome in 1965. Since then he has been working mainly at the Research Center of ENEA, Frascati, Rome, Italy, where he was Director of the Section Lasers and Accelerators until his retirement at the end of 2008. Lately, he irradiated linen cloths with excimer lasers to study the dynamics of coloration, an important process to understand the origin of the body image of the Shroud of Turin. Presentation(s):

39. “Characteristics of the Image and Its Formation” (30 minutes)


Baltz, Fred - Dr. Frederick W. Baltz is a member of the faculty of the Institute of Lutheran Theology, Brookings, South Dakota. He is also the Pastor of St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Galena, Illinois. He holds degrees from: Dana College, Blair, Nebraska; Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa; and The University of Dubuque Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa. Dr. Baltz has written numerous books and articles, and also appears in biblical education videos. Presentation(s):

4. “Exposition of John 20” (30 minutes, read by Massimo Paris)


Barcaccia, Gianni - Ph.D. 1995 in Plant Reproductive Systems and Population Genetics at the University of Perugia (Italy). Since 2017, Full Professor of Plant Genetics at the University of Padova (Italy) and Adjunct Professor of Plant Breeding at the University of Georgia, Athens (USA). Chair Professor of Applied Genomics and Molecular Traceability in different B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree courses of the Academic School of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (External link opens in new tab or windowwww.agrariamedicinaveterinaria.unipd.it/en/). Author of more than 100 scientific papers, both original articles and reviews, published in valuable international peer-reviewed journals. In addition, author of several academic books of Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnologies (for details, look for Gianni Barcaccia in External link opens in new tab or windowhttps://scholar.google.it/ . Expertise in Molecular markers and Genomics, Plant Reproductive Systems and Plant Breeding, and Population Genetics. Emphasis on the use of DNA barcoding and DNA genotyping for the genetic identification of plant and animal species and populations. Presentation(s):

20. “Uncovering the Sources of DNA Found on the Shroud of Turin” (35 minutes)


Barta, Cesar - City:   Madrid, Country: Spain Education: physicist Current or previous position:  test engineer in the space industry for more than 25 years. Most significant contribution to Shroud research: He was involved in the Shroud research following its carbon 14 dating and he is member of the Centro Español de Sindonología (CES). Presentation(s):

14. “The image of Edessa included the whole body but only its empty reliquary arrived at Paris” by Cesar Barta and Jorge Manuel Rodriguez Almenar (30 minutes, presented by Cesar Barta)

19. “Pollens on the Shroud and the Sudarium of Oviedo” by Marzia Boi (35 minutes, presented by Cesar Barta)


Boi, Marzia - City: Palma de Mallorca, Country: Spain, Education: PhD in Biology, Current or previous position: university professor and researcher in Palynology. Most significant contribution to Shroud research: study of pollen on the Sudario of Oviedo and bibliographic study and revision of Shroud pollen. Presentation(s):

19. “Pollens on the Shroud of Turin and the Sudarium of Oviedo” by Marzia Boi and Alfonso Sanchez Hermosilla, (35 minutes, presented by Cesar Barta)


Bracaglia, Giorgio - Giorgio Bracaglia has over 41 years of experience in analog and digital imaging, specializing in color management. He is now working in research and development for a security printing firm formulating combinations of amplified modulation screen builds, angles, and screen resolution for phone app recognition and prevention of unwarranted reproduction. He is also doing research into and archiving of 60 years of scientific studies and spiritual materials developed at the Holy Shroud Guild (External link opens in new tab or windowwww.Holyshroudguild.org), the oldest Shroud organization in the United States. His goal is to preserve the work of the Holy Shroud Guild and author a book about the Guild’s history. Presentation(s):

18. “Uncovering the Frailties of Ecclesiastical Authorities in the Holy Shroud Guild Archives” (30 minutes)


Breault, Russ - Russ Breault has been researching and lecturing on The Shroud of Turin for over 30 years, and is the president and founder of the Shroud of Turin Education Project Inc., the mission of which is to: “Advance the knowledge of the Shroud to a new generation.” He has participated in over a dozen international research symposiums since 1981 and three recent public exhibitions in Turin, Italy in 1998, 2000 and 2010. He is a long-time member of the Shroud Science Group, an international consortium of scientists and scholars dedicated to further research. His highly acclaimed presentation known as Shroud Encounter (External link opens in new tab or windowwww.ShroudEncounter.com) makes use of over 200 superb images and unfolds like a CSI investigation. Russ has presented to hundreds of audiences from New York to Hawaii. College and university presentations include Duke, Johns Hopkins, Penn State, Cal State and many others. He has appeared in several nationally televised documentaries and was a primary expert for EWTN’s documentary, “The Holy Winding Sheet”. Presentation(s):

2. “CSI Jerusalem, Case of the Missing Body” (90 minutes)

31. “Art, Icon, or Relic” (90 minutes)


Caccese, Alfonso - Alfonso Caccese lives in Rome (Italy) where he teaches Catholic religion. He obtained a degree in Psychology at La Sapienza University in Rome and a doctorate in Greek patristic at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. He is a Master Iconographer; his icons are spread throughout Italy. He is co-founder of the Roman Association In Novitate Radix (External link opens in new tab or windowwww.innovitateradix.it). His research is about the influence of the Holy Shroud in the representation of Christ. Presentation(s):

8. “The Mandylion in Constantinople: Literary and Iconographic Sources” by Alfonso Caccese, Emanuela Marinelli, Laura Provera, and Domenico Repice (30 minutes, presented by Emanuela Marinelli)


Casabianca, Tristan - , Ajaccio (France), M.A., LL.M. In 2013, Tristan Casabianca has applied traditional criteria of historical assessment to the Turin Shroud, in order to show which image formation hypothesis should be called the most likely. Presentation(s):

49. “Do we really need new evidence and arguments about the Turin Shroud?” (20 minutes)


Dalton, Fr. Andrew – Fr Andrew Dalton is a Catholic priest of the Legionaries of Christ, who found his vocation while studying at the Georgia Institute of Technology. After achieving a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology, he specialized in Biblical languages at the Pontifical Biblical Institute and Biblical Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. As he pursues his doctorate, he is currently an adjunct professor of theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Italy, where he teaches Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Greek, and the Synoptic Gospels. Fr Dalton is also an official trainer of Verbum Bible Software. Regarding the Shroud, Fr Dalton teaches the Biblical Theology of the Passion of the Christ as part of the Diploma in Shroud Studies offered by the Institute of Science and Faith in collaboration with the International Center of Sindonology in Turin and the Giulio Ricci Diocesan Center of Sindonology in Rome. Fr Dalton is also a board member for Othonia, a center for investigation and study of the Shroud with exhibitions all over the world. Presentation(s):

3. “The Crown of Thorns: The Paradoxical Lordship of the King of Kings” (25 minutes)


Di Lascio, A. – Medical doctor in private practice. Presentation(s):

34. “Investigating the Color of the Blood on the Shroud of Turin” by Paolo Di Lazzaro, A. Di Lascio, P. Iacomussi, M. Missori, and D. Murra (15 minutes, presented by Paolo Di Lazzaro)


Di Lazzaro, Paolo – Ph.D in physics, research director at ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Frascati, Italy (External link opens in new tab or windowwww.enea.it/en ). After graduating with honors in Applied Physics at the University La Sapienza in Rome (1983), he won a national competition to join ENEA as research staff member (1985). In the ENEA Center of Frascati he worked on the development of innovative laser systems, on design and test of complex optical systems and on the radiation-matter interaction at the atomic level. The brilliant results achieved allowed him to win the National Award of the Italian Physical Society in 1990 and the Award of Excellence ENEA in 2008. He is author/coauthor of more than 250 papers published in international journals, conference proceedings and chapters of books (External link opens in new tab or windowhttp://www.frascati.enea.it/UTAPRAD/uploads/all/pubblicazioni_di%20lazzaro.pdf, External link opens in new tab or windowhttp://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paolo_Di_Lazzaro, and External link opens in new tab or windowhttps://enea.academia.edu/PaoloDiLazzaro). These papers cover the fields of laser technology, laser-matter interaction, material processing, unstable laser resonators, generation of short laser pulses, physics of surfaces, excimer lamps, electrical discharge stability in gas mixtures, X-ray ionization, laser beam characterization, standardization of beam parameters, optics and beam propagation, laser-driven plasmas, X-ray contact microscopy, X-ray spectroscopy, EUV projection lithography, vision and perception. He has been awarded 8 national and international patents. He serves as Referee in the most important international journals devoted to Optics, Lasers and Plasmas. He organized and chaired several international conferences and workshops on laser-related technologies and edited five Proceedings of conferences. Since 2005 he has been involved in several scientific studies related to the image embedded into the Shroud of Turin, including experiments of excimer laser irradiation of linen cloths, which produced a coloration having chemical and physical characteristics very similar to those of the Shroud image. He was the chair of the International Workshop on the Scientific approach to the Acheiropoietos Images, held at the Research Centre ENEA Frascati, 4 to 6 May 2010 (External link opens in new tab or windowwww.acheiropoietos.info) and Editor of the Proceedings volume of the same workshop (External link opens in new tab or windowhttp://old.enea.it/produzione_scientifica/volumi/V2010_12-Acheiropoietos.html). He is an honorary member of the CES (Centro Español de Sindonologia), in 2015 he was appointed member of the Scientific Committee of CIS (Centro Internazionale di Sindonologia) in Turin and in 2017 Vice Director of CIS. Presentation(s):

22. “The ‘Other Images’ on the Shroud of Turin” by Paolo Di Lazzaro and Daniele Murra (30 minutes, presented by Paolo Di Lazzaro)

34. “Explaining the Color of the Blood on the Shroud” by Paolo Di Lazzaro, A. Di Lascio, P. Iacomussi, M. Missori, and D. Murra (15 minutes, presented by Paolo Di Lazzaro)

41. “Linen Coloration by Pulsed Radiation, A Review” by Paolo Di Lazzaro and Daniele Murra (30 minutes, presented by Paolo Di Lazzaro)


Fanti, Giulio - Giulio Fanti is Associate Professor of Mechanical and Thermal Measurements since 1992 and at the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Padua since 1996. With reference to the Turin Shroud, he is coordinator of the Shroud Science group and member of the scientific committees of several conferences; his current research activity is aimed at the, at least partial, explanation of the process of body image formation (still not reproducible in its entirety), at the 3D reconstruction of the wrapped man's posture, at the dating of the Relic by means of alternative methods to C14 and at the micro/nano-analysis of bodily fluids to better define the effect of the tortures suffered by that Man. He is author of approximately 200 publications also published in Italian and international journals and books, most of them on subjects related to the Shroud. Presentation(s):

23. “Numismatic dating of the Turin Shroud through the analysis of Byzantine coins” (45 minutes)

24. “Hypothesis of face-cloth wrapping of the Turin Shroud Man: experimental and numerical results” by Matteo Bevilacqua, Gianmaria Concheri, Stefano Concheri, Giulio Fanti and Sergio Rodella (5 minutes, presented by Giulio Fanti)

28. “Dating Techniques other than Carbon Dating” by Giulio Fanti (40 minutes)

33. “Image Characteristics” (25 minutes)

38. “Critical Analysis about the Radiation Direction in the Formation of the Shroud of Turin Image” by R. Campion and Giulio Fanti (25 minutes, presented by Giulio Fanti)

43. “Image Formation by Corona Discharge” (40 minutes)


Fleming, Tony - Tony Fleming, Melbourne, Australia, Ph.D. Research Scientist Department of Defence and Telstra, now working independently; in 2014 contributed the Biophotonics Hypothesis (External link opens in new tab or windowhttps://www.shroud.com/pdfs/stlflemingpaper.pdf) to various theories of Shroud Image Formation. This hypothesis considered whether chromosomes acting during the cell cycle could cause a UV flash thus initiating the Image of the Shroud. Presentation(s):

42. “Chromosome acting as loop antenna matches wavelength for colorization of Shroud of Turin” (20 minutes)


Godinez, Jose’ Carlos Espriella - Jose' Carlos Espriella Godinez is from Mexico city. He studied Chemistry at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) and obtained a Master degree at Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana. He is a chemistry professor at Escuela Nacional Preparatoria. He has been a member of the Centro Mexicano de Sindonología (CMS) since 2000 and a member of the Instituto Superior de Estudios Guadalupanos (ISEG) since 2010. Presentation(s):

35. “Chemistry of the Image Imprinting Process” (30 minutes)


Iacomussi, P. – Currently employed at INRIM. Presentation(s):

34. “Explaining the Color of the Blood on the Shroud” by Paolo Di Lazzaro, A. Di Lascio, P. Iacomussi, M. Missori, and D. Murra (15 minutes, presented by Paolo Di Lazzaro)


Latendresse, Dr. Mario - Dr. Mario Latendresse is a computer scientist at SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, USA. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Montreal in Canada. He has published papers and a book related to the Shroud of Turin about image formation and history. He is the publisher of two web sites about the Shroud, in English at sindonology.org and in French at linceul.org. Presentation(s):

9. “Who Saw the Mandylion and What was its Size?” (30 minutes)

12. “There is no Evidence that Othon de la Roche Acquired the Shroud of Turin” (35 minutes)

13. “The Shroud of Turin and the Sainte-Chapelle of Paris” (45 minutes)

40. “A Geometric Mechanism for the Image Formation on the Shroud of Turin” (30 minutes)


Lind, Arthur - Dr. Lind has a PhD in physics and during his career has conducted research and development for the Watervliet Arsenal and the McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratories. After retiring in 1998 he continues to conduct development work for different companies. Presentation(s):

46. “Image Formation by Protons” (30 minutes)


Marinelli, Emanuela - Emanuela Marinelli lives in Rome (Italy). She is retired after teaching Geography. She obtained two degrees, in Natural Sciences and in Geological Sciences, at La Sapienza University in Rome. She has been co-founder of Collegamento pro Sindone (External link opens in new tab or windowwww.shroud.it). She wrote many books on the Holy Shroud and was the Coordinator of the Organizing Committee of the Worldwide Congress Sindone 2000. On October 2015, she has been awarded the Gold Medal of Merit of the Catholic Culture. Presentation(s):

8. “The Mandylion in Constantinople: Literary and Iconographic Sources” by Alfonso Caccese, Emanuela Marinelli, Laura Provera, and Domenico Repice (30 minutes, presented by Emanuela Marinelli)


Marino, Joseph. G. – Joe Marino has a B.A. in Theological Studies, currently works as a library associate at Ohio State University, and lives in Dublin, Ohio. He has documented numerous problems with the Shroud's C-14 dating, including evidence of a probable repair in that area of the sample. Presentation(s):

25. “Politics of the Shroud C-14 Dating” (60 minutes)

26. “Invisible Reweave on the Shroud: Evidence For” (30 minutes)


Markwardt, Jack – Jack is a resident of Estero, Florida. He attended Rutgers University; Albany Law School, and holds a Juris Doctor degree (JD), cum laude. He is a trial attorney and legal editor. He is the author of numerous papers presented to international Shroud symposia which (1) place the Turin Shroud in ancient Antioch, link it to the evangelization of Edessa and the formulation of the Abgar legend, and identify it as the Byzantine Image of God Incarnate, a cloth brought to Constantinople in 574 and publicly exhibited there in 1203-1204; (2) repudiate the charges of fraudulence which were leveled against the Turin Shroud, in 1900-1903, by Canon Ulysse Chevalier and Reverend Herbert Thurston; (3) explain the Shroud’s whereabouts and movements prior to 1355, the manner of its acquisition by Geoffrey de Charny, and the silence regarding its provenance; and (4) establish that the Church investigated the Shroud and determined it to be an authentic relic of Jesus Christ. Presentation(s):

10. “Geoffrey de Charny’s Acquisition of the Shroud of Turin: Texts, Fictions, and Forgeries” (60 minutes)

15. “The Simony Theory: The Passage of the Shroud of Turin from Constantinople to Lirey” (30 minutes)

16. “Avignon and the Shroud of Turin: Authenticity Confirmed” (30 minutes)


Missori, M. – Currently employed at CNR. Presentation(s):

34. “Explaining the Color of the Blood on the Shroud” by Paolo Di Lazzaro, A. Di Lascio, P. Iacomussi, M. Missori, and D. Murra (15 minutes, presented by Paolo Di Lazzaro)


Murra, Daniele – Currently employed at ENEA. Presentation(s):

22. “The ‘Other Images’ on the Shroud of Turin” by Paolo Di Lazzaro and Daniele Murra (30 minutes, presented by Paolo Di Lazzaro)

34. “Explaining the Color of the Blood on the Shroud” by Paolo Di Lazzaro, A. Di Lascio, P. Iacomussi, M. Missori, and D. Murra (15 minutes, presented by Paolo Di Lazzaro)

41. “Linen Coloration by Pulsed Radiation, A Review” by Paolo Di Lazzaro and Daniele Murra (30 minutes, presented by Paolo Di Lazzaro)


Pescetelli, Dr. Pietro - Pietro Pescetelli is an Italian Medical Doctor, born in Rome on 1954. He obtained a degree in Medicine and Surgery at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart of Rome. He is a specialist in Cardiology and Internal Medicine. Presentation(s):

6. “Physical Cause of Jesus’ Death” (40 minutes)


Piana, Alessandro – He lives in Monza, Italy, specializing on the history of the Shroud. He’s the author of books and articles on the Shroud. He lectures in Italy, participates in conferences and seminars, and participates in radio and TV broadcasting. Presentation(s):

11. “The Holy Shroud and Othon de La Roche: notes for a working hypothesis on the “Missing Years” (1204-1356)” by Alessandro Piana, (35 minutes, presented by Michela Marinelli)


Provera, Laura - Laura Provera lives in Rome (Italy), where she teaches Greek in the Pontifical University Antonianum (Franciscan Fathers OFM) and has been Lecturer of Hebrew in the Waldensian Faculty of Theology. She obtained a Master of Arts at the University of Turin and a Sacred Scripture License at the Pontifical Biblical Institute of Rome. Her research is about historical and literary texts, regarding the Holy Shroud, of patristic and medieval period. Presentation(s):

8. “The Mandylion in Constantinople: Literary and Iconographic Sources” by Alfonso Caccese, Emanuela Marinelli, Laura Provera, and Domenico Repice (30 minutes, presented by Emanuela Marinelli)


Repice, Domenico - Domenico Repice, Catholic priest, obtained the License in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he is completing a PhD on the relationship between the Holy Shroud and the theology of the image. He is co-founder of the associations In Novitate Radix, (External link opens in new tab or windowwww.innovitateradix.it) and Amici Romani della Sindone. He organized many conventions about the Holy Shroud. He published several articles and the book Quattro percorsi accanto alla Sindone. Presentation(s):

8. “The Mandylion in Constantinople: Literary and Iconographic Sources” by Alfonso Caccese, Emanuela Marinelli, Laura Provera, and Domenico Repice (30 minutes, presented by Emanuela Marinelli)


Rogers, Charles - Charles A. Rogers lives in Richland, Washington, U.S.A. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963 from Northwestern University and his Master of Science degree in 1964 from University of Illinois with a major in physics. He worked at Battelle Northwest Critical Mass Laboratory before transferring to Westinghouse Hanford Company as a nuclear criticality safety specialist. He also worked for several other companies on Hanford Plant Site before retiring in 2007. This is his first contribution to Shroud research. Presentation(s): 45. “Free Electron Model of Image Formation on Shroud of Turin” (30 minutes)


Rucker, Robert A. (Bob) – Bob Rucker earned BS and MS degrees in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan, and attended the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago for one year. He worked for 24 years at General Atomics in San Diego, California, doing nuclear analysis for core physics design of advanced nuclear reactors and led the “Statistics and Measurement Control” group doing by-monthly inventories of fissile material in a nuclear fuel fabrication facility. He next worked as a consultant for 13 years at various locations doing criticality safety calculations and documentation for nuclear fuel fabrication and handling. He is now using nuclear analysis computer calculations to model the Shroud covering a body in a tomb to solve the carbon dating problem. Presentation(s):

29. “Statistical Analysis of the 1988 Carbon dating” (40 minutes)

30. “The Neutron Absorption Hypothesis” (35 minutes)

37. “Role of Radiation in Image Formation” (45 minutes)

48. “Problems with the Cloth Collapse Hypothesis for Image Formation” (15 minutes)


Schaffer, Michael - Michael J. Schaffer was born in Los Angeles but lived mostly in San Diego, CA, USA. Graduated from MIT (Sc.D., Electrical Science and Engineering, 1966), he has 44 years of experience in fusion energy and plasma physics research, mostly at General Atomics. Retired, he is now interested in whether a plasma contributed to the Shroud image formation. Presentation(s):

44. “Experimental Effects of Coronal Discharges on Linen” (15 minutes)


Schulz, Waldean - Waldean (“Dean”) Schulz, Spokane, WA, USA Ph.D. Computer Science, retired software engineer (16 patents). I have followed Shroud research and know a couple researchers/authors. I have made a number of presentations on the Shroud to small groups. Presentation(s):

7. “Identifying the Tomb of Jesus for Turin Shroud Research” (20 minutes)


Siefker, Robert – Education: Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California; Masters in Philosophy and Theology from the Dominican School of Theology and Philosophy 2001 (Student Graduation Speaker); University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, California; Masters in Business Administration 1973; University of California, Berkeley, California; BS in Engineering 1969; UCLA, Engineering 1964-1968 on Navy Scholarship; Transfer by Navy to Berkeley for special engineering classes 1968. Vice President J.D Edwards & Company, Denver, Colorado (Large worldwide producer of enterprise management software) 1987-1999; Vice President The McCosker Corporation , Oakland, California (Producer of software for the construction and real estate industries) 1980-1987; Senior Engineer Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation, Oakland, California 1975-1980; United States Navy Civil Engineering Corps 1969-1975 (Okinawa and Vietnam with Seabees; Public Works Engineering Officer at Moffett Field Naval Air Station, Sunnyvale, California). Turin Shroud Center of Colorado (TSC) Affiliated since 2006 as research associate; Co-author of “The Shroud of Turin, A Critical Summary of Observations, Data, and Hypotheses” with John Jackson, PhD in physics and the Turin Shroud Center of Colorado (TSC) research staff. Presentation(s):

1. “Overview of the Shroud” (60 minutes)


White, Dr. Cheryl - Dr. Cheryl White is an Associate Professor of History with Louisiana State University at Shreveport. Her graduate studies emphasized medieval and early modern European history, with a secondary emphasis in the history of dogmatic theology. Her interest in Christian Church history and theology has driven her to be a frequent guest lecturer around the nation on the Shroud of Turin. Presentation(s):

5. “The Role of Epistemology in Approaching Truth in the Shroud of Turin” (45 minutes)


Janis Winchester – Janis Winchester received a BA from the University of Florida, and a MSPA from Florida State University. She was employed as a Forensic Scientist with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for 38 years. She worked in the Crime Laboratory, Inspections, and the Training Academy, is a Fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and other professional organizations, and is now retired. She has studied the Shroud over the last 20 years, met with Shroud Researchers in Europe and America, accumulated a library of books about the Shroud, and attended the 2014 International Shroud Conference held in St. Louis. Presentation(s): 21. “Use of the VP-8 Image Analyzer with a photograph of the Shroud of Turin exhibiting 3D results” (20 minutes)


Organizing Committee

The following people are organizing the conference.

Robert A. Rucker is the chairman.

Mark Antonacci, Test the Shroud Foundation, St. Louis, MO, US
Thurman Cooper, MS in radio-chemistry, Richland, WA, US
Joe Marino, independent Shroud researcher, Dublin, Ohio, US
Robert A. Rucker, MS in nuclear engineering, Richland, WA, US
Kevin Schwinkendorf, PhD in nuclear engineering, Richland, WA,US
Harry Smith, PhD in geology, Richland, WA, US

Scientific Committee

The following people are responsible for reviewing the scientific merits of the papers to be presented.

Cesar Barta, PhD, CES (Spanish Center of Sindonology), Valencia, Spain
Roberto Basso, Professor, Dept. of Industrial Engineering, University of Padua, Padova, Italy
Ralph Cerbone, PhD in nuclear engineering, Adjunct Professor, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, US
Thurman Cooper, MS in radio-chemistry, Richland, WA, US
Giulio Fanti, Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
Jose L. Fernandez, Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Jorge Garcia-Macedo, Professor, Inst. of Physics, National Autonomous Univ. of Mexico, Coyoacan, Mexico
Emanuela Marinelli, Professor, Collegamento pro Sindone, Rome, Italy
Jack Markwardt, J.D., historian, Estero, Florida, US
Marco Riani, Professor of Statistics, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Jim Saeger, PhD in mechanical engineering, Richland, WA, US
Michael Schaffer, ScD in electrical science and engineering, San Diego, CA, US
Ray Schneider, PhD in information technology, retired professor of mathematics & computer technology at Bridgeport College
Dean Schulz, PhD in computer science, Spokane, WA, US
Harry Smith, PhD in geology, Richland, WA, US
Kevin Swinkendorf, PhD in nuclear engineering, Richland, WA, US
Giuseppe Zagotto, Professor of Chemistry, University of Padova, Italy