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The case of the Holy Fraudster - Notes On A Strange World

Skeptical Inquirer, March-April, 2004 by Massimo Polidoro

The next World Skeptics Congress will be held October 8-10, 2004, in Italy (for more information, see www.cicap.org/congress). For this reason, I am devoting four columns to popular Italian mysteries: the previous one was on a very special liquefying blood. Should you come to the Congress, you could also take advantage of your trip to visit these famous enigmas.

One of Italy's most famous "enigmas" certainly is Turin's Holy Shroud. This cloth, that allegedly covered the body of Jesus Christ and retained a mysterious negative image of it, has attracted incredible controversy, especially after carbon 14 dating in 1988 revealed that the cloth had a Medieval origin, in agreement with the date of its first appearance (circa 1350, in Lirey near Troyes, France). Believers in the supernatural nature of the image on the cloth have always maintained that "somehow" the dating had to be wrong.

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Their hopes were apparently met when a Russian researcher, Dmitri A. Kouznetsov, revealed he had found proof that an ancient fire had probably modified the carbon content of the cloth, thus altering any subsequent attempt in dating it. Kouznetsov's claims were enough to have the believers say that his work was further proof of the authenticity of the Shroud.

The Unmaking of a Creationist

Many readers of this magazine may recall Kouznetsov. Born in 1955, he worked as a biologist in Moscow until 1989, when he abruptly ended his career in biology. Since 1983, he has been an active creationist. He was associated with the Institute for Creation Research, located near San Diego, California, the Slavic Gospel Association, and other similar associations. He was connected with American creationists such as Duane Gish and Henry Morris.

In 1989, he published a paper in the International Journal of Neuroscience (IJN) (49, 43-59), where he claimed he had found experimental proof in favor of creationist theses. The paper launched him into an immediate international career as a creationist propagandist, He toured the United States, lecturing about the biological proofs of creationism and published several papers in creationist journals.

In 1994, a Swedish biologist, Professor Dan Larhammar of Uppsala University, examined Kouznetsov's 1989 paper in the IJN (77, 199-201). Apart from criticizing the contents, he discovered that eight key references in the bibliography referred to nonexistent papers in nonexistent journals. A recent check by Italian researcher Gian Marco Rinaldi revealed that the number of references to nonexistent papers is probably around fifty. Larhammar published his criticism in a note in the same journal (1994) and subsequently summarized it in SKEPTKCAL INQUIRER (March/April 1995). The whole story of the faked references was also told in 1995 in the Australian journal The Skeptic.

For a while, Kouznetsov was embroiled in the scandal. The creationist associations that had promoted him publicly dissociated themselves from him. Kouznetsov's career as a creationist ended in 1995.

However, the man was not done--he was in fact starting an entirely new career as a specialist in archaeological chemistry. During the very same months when the creationist scandal erupted, he was able to publish, in important chemical and archaeological journals, no less than nine papers related to the Shroud of Turin.

Friend and colleague Gian Marco Rinaldi has recently conducted the most in-depth investigation on Kouznetsov's claims ever attempted and has come up with a series of startling discoveries. Right from the start, clear evidence pointing to serious fraud emerged. Though Rinaldi kept Kouznetsov at least partially informed about this inquiry, the Russian researcher has not yet replied to several letters sent to him.

The Making of a Sindonologist

Kouznetsov's new career as a "sindonologist" was originated by Guy Berthault, a wealthy French creationist known for financing work in various fields of unusual research. Kouznetsov met Berthault for the first time at a creationist conference in England in 1992 and, from then on, in almost all of his papers, Kouznetsov thanks Berthault for his financial support.

Kouznetsov first appeared among sindonologists at a conference in Rome in 1993. Between 1994 and 1996, he published nine papers in qualified chemical or archaeological journals, where, more or less directly, he claimed to have provided experimental proof for the thesis that the composition of carbon isotopes in the linen cellulose can be altered as an effect of various factors, thus explaining the results of the 1988 dating. The obvious consequence, be claimed, was that the Shroud may be much older than established by the laboratories; indeed, it may be 2,000 years old. Until very recently, in sindonological publications (especially in Italy) he has been hailed as sort of saviour for the Shroud of Turin.

In 1997, however, he met with a misadventure in the United States, where he was jailed for bad checks in Connecticut and imprisoned for five months. By accepting a six-month rehabilitation program, he was freed and avoided trial.

The case of the Holy Fraudster - Notes On A Strange World

Skeptical Inquirer, March-April, 2004 by Massimo Polidoro

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