Thursday, July 31, 2025

Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (2): Turin Shroud Encyclopedia

Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (2)

This is the twenty-second instalment of my "Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (2)," part #43 of my Turin Shroud Encyclopedia. In keeping with its purpose to "help me answer questions about my Hacker Theory in any future online interviews" and "Graphics will be `flashcards' which I may hold up to the camera to illustrate a point" (04Jul25), I won't normally include graphics, which will keep this dot points format as brief as possible. For more information see "Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (1)." Again, if a reference looks the same as another (e.g. "08Dec22"), when it is clicked it will open at the correct place.

Newcomers start with: "The Turin Shroud in a nutshell"

[Index #1] [Previous: Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (1): #42] [Next: To be advised #44].

Leaks In early July 1988, after Arizona laboratory had completed its dating[08Dec22], Zurich was mid-way through its[08Dec22], but before Oxford had started its dating[24Jun14], leaks about the Shroud's radiocarbon-dating results began to appear in English newspapers[24Jun14].

Kenneth Rose "medieval" On 3 July 1988, biographer Kenneth Rose (1924-2014), in his column in the London Sunday Telegraph, wrote of the Shroud's ongoing radiocarbon dating: "In spite of the intense secrecy surrounding the investigation I hear signs that the linen cloth has been proved to be mediaeval"[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 15Aug17; 06Aug18]. This leak was from Zurich laboratory's Director Willy Wölfli (1930–2014)[07Apr25].

Richard Luckett "1350" Then on 26 August the London Evening Standard quoted a Cambridge University librarian, Richard Luckett (1945-2020), who stated of the Shroud's radiocarbon dating that, "a probable date of about 1350 looks likely" and that "laboratories are rather leaky institutions"[24Jun14; 15Oct15; 30Dec15; 15Aug17; 08Dec22]. Luckett was unknown in radiocarbon dating circles[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 03Aug19], but it was assumed that the leak came from Oxford[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 15Aug17; 12Feb08]. However, on 9 July Oxford's Prof. Edward Hall (1924-2001) and Robert Hedges (1944-) in a letter to The Times stated that Oxford had not yet started its dating[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 15Aug17]. In an Associated Press story of 9 September 1988, Luckett clarified: "I had an absolutely marvellous leak from one of the laboratories and it wasn't Oxford"[24Jun14; 15Aug17; 12Feb08].This leak was from the hacker, Arizona physicist Timothy W. Linick (1946-89) (see future below).

David Sox Harold David Sox (1936-2016) was a former Secretary of the British Society for the Turin Shroud (BSTS), turned Shroud sceptic[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 15Aug17]. On 23 September 1988, in a special newsletter to BSTS members, Ian Wilson (1941-) publicly concluded that Sox was the source of Rose's and Luckett's leaks to the media[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 30Dec15; 15Aug17]. The connection between Rose, Luckett and Sox is that evidently they were members of an informal network of homosexuals[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 15Aug17]. Sox later admitted he was the source of the leaks but that he was not solely to blame[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 15Aug17].

Linick was quoted in Sox's book Linick was quoted in Sox's August 1988 book, "The Shroud Unmasked," as anti-Shroud, in the context of its radiocarbon dating:

"Timothy Linick, a University of Arizona research scientist, said: `If we show the material to be medieval that would definitely mean that it is not authentic. If we date it back 2000 years, of course, that still leaves room for argument. It would be the right age - but is it the real thing?'"[24Jun14; 30Dec15; 15Aug17].
[Above: Quote of Linick on page 147 of Sox's 1988 book, "The Shroud Unmasked."]

This was despite Linick having signed a confidentiality agreement, along with all present at Arizona's first dating, "not to communicate the results to anyone ... until that time when results are generally available to the public"[24Jun14; 30Dec15]. How would Sox know that Linick existed, unless Linick contacted Sox? Linick was not a laboratory leader, but an ordinary `back room' Arizona laboratory scientist[24Jun14; 30Dec15]. The above quote of Linick on page 147 of Sox's book is opposite Sox's description of the Shroud's AMS radiocarbon dating on page 146. So Linick's Arizona laboratory's leaders would surely have read it and concluded that Linick was the leaker to Sox of Arizona's "1350" date[30Dec15].

That Rochester radiocarbon dating laboratory's Prof. Harry Gove (1922-2009) realised that Linick was the leaker of Arizona's first run "1350" date to Sox is evident from: 1) this quote from Gove's 1996 book:

"I must say I wondered about Luckett's date of 1350 because it was the date Donahue announced to me when I was present at the first radiocarbon measurement on the shroud in 6 May 1988. Of course, it also corresponds very closely to the shroud's known historic date. However, I still assumed Luckett had said he got the number from Oxford. When I read that he claimed he got it from one of the other two labs I worried that it might have come from someone who was present at Arizona during the first measurement" (as Linick was - my emphasis)[24Jun14; 06Aug18; 08Dec22].
and 2) Gove's photo in his 1996 book of "Those present at the Arizona AMS carbon dating facility at 9:50 am on 6 May 1988 when the age of the shroud was determined"[22Feb16; 25Mar18; 23Jun18; 08Dec22] (below), shows Linick standing in front of his Arizona laboratory leaders and colleagues in this historic group photograph of the very

[Above (enlarge): Photo at page 176H of Gove's 1996 book, "Relic, Icon or Hoax?: Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud." But tellingly, Gove barely mentions Linick in his book, but he could not take him out of this photo![25Mar18].]

first "1350 AD" dating of the Shroud, which can only mean that Linick was in charge of the AMS computerised dating process at Arizona laboratory and those present were acknowledging that"[25Mar18; 07Apr25]. When Gove and Arizona laboratory leaders and staff read Luckett's 26 August "a probable date of about 1350 looks likely" (above) they must have worried that there was a leaker in their midst. But when they read Linick's quote in Sox's book, published in October 1988[24Jun14], they would have put two and two together and realised that it was Linick who had leaked Arizona's first-run "1350" date to Sox!

The laboratories did not realise that they had been hacked Recently, in considering what Gove wrote after my quote of him above:

"However, it did not really matter now since all three labs had submitted their results to the British Museum and so none of them could be influenced by this real or imagined leak"[19Jan16].
Apart from Gove's "imagined leak," which is at best self-deception, or at worst, a lie, because Luckett had said (see above), "I had an absolutely marvellous leak from one of the laboratories ..." (my emphasis), Gove's "since all three labs had submitted their results to the British Museum and so none of them could be influenced..." shows no consciousness by him, ~8 years later, that Arizona's and the other two laboratories' Shroud dates were the result of Linick's hacking.

Ironically it was the Shroud sceptic Hugh Farey (1956-) who first alerted Arizona's Prof. Tim Jull (1951-) and Oxford's Prof. Christopher Ramsey (1962-) to my early posts in my "Were the radiocarbon dating laboratories duped by a computer hacker?" series. (Thanks Hugh, "... you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" - Gn 50:20)! See my "Were the radiocarbon dating laboratories duped by a computer hacker?: My replies to Dr. Timothy Jull and Prof. Christopher Ramsey (5)." This evidently came as `a bolt from the blue' to Jull and Ramsey because to my amazement they responded to my anonymous (to them)[05July14] blog posts. As I later wrote:

"Since when do Professors of Physics, let alone Directors of two of the world's leading radiocarbon dating laboratories, Arizona and Oxford, deign to respond to a mere blogger's post? If Jull and Ramsey knew that there was no truth in my hacker theory, they would have simply ignored it"[22Nov16].
So, I no longer claim that the laboratories knew that they had been hacked by Linick, but Jull and Ramsey's "prompt, misleading and false replies"[10May17] to my early hacker posts (before I called it a theory), shows that it was feasible, at least for Arizona (they probably could not conceive how Zurich and Oxford, not being online, were hacked).

Anthony Linick Sox worked with Linick's half-brother Anthony Linick (1938-) as teachers at the American School in London for at least 11 years from 1982 to 1993, which included 1988[22Feb16; 15Aug17; 07Apr25]. My email correspondence with Anthony included many implausibilities by him, and at least one lie that he only met Sox "once or twice"[22Feb16]. Anthony was unaware that I had worked as a relief (substitute, supply) teacher in 12 diferent Western Australian high schools for 6 years between 2009 and 2015[22Feb16]. And in my experience it simply is not credible that two teachers can work in the same school (indeed the same middle school) and only "meet ... once or twice" in 11 years[22Feb16]! As expatriate Americans in London, teachers at the ASL would presumably know each other socially more than teachers in their own country. Indeed, I posted a 2011 article in which Anthony and Sox were in the same room of an English pub at an ASL reunion[03Aug19]! So in view of his many implausibilities, including at least one lie, I concluded that Anthony had an active role in leaking Arizona's "1350" date, as the go-between his half-brother Timothy Linick and Sox[07Apr25]!

Climate of expectation The "1350" leak by Linick was necessary to create a climate of expectation[24Jun14; 15Aug17; 03Aug19; 21Mar23] that the Shroud would date close before its first appearance in undisputed history at Lirey, France, in 1355[30Jan15; 22Sep15]. This was so that Linick's computer-generated 1260-1390 date of the Shroud would be accepted without question[24Jun14; 31Mar15; 22Feb16; 10Mar17; 30Dec15; 15Aug17; 03Aug19]. Which it was. After Arizona's first dating run returned the date of "1350," Gove declared:

"At the end of that one minute we knew the age of the Turin Shroud! ... the year the flax had been harvested that formed its linen threads was 1350 AD-the shroud was only 640 years old! It was certainly not Christ's burial cloth but dated from the time its historic record began"[22Feb14; 22Sep15; 23Jun18; 07Apr25]
So, after only one dating run lasting only one minute, there was no need for further dating runs by Arizona, Zurich, and Oxford[23Jun18; 07Apr25]!

Oxford's Prof. Hall confirmed the "medieval" and "1350" leaks' effect, that "Everyone was resigned to it being a fake long before the announcement" (on 13 October 1988):

"So it was `leaked' by the press ... long before ... Everyone was resigned to it being a fake long before the announcement ... it was out of the bag from the very beginning"[21Mar23; 07Apr25]!
Shroud was exhibited in 1355 So powerful was Linick's "1350" psychological hammer blow[22Jan25] in overriding the scientists' critical faculties[03Aug19, 07Apr25], that there was no thought by them about how could the Shroud's flax have been harvested in 1350, and then the Shroud was exhibited only 5 years later in in 1355[07Mar14; 08Jun14; 22Sep15; 23Jun18]? Because, for the "1350" date to be true, the Shroud's flax would have been been harvested in 1350[08Jun14; 22Sep15; 28Jan25]; retted under water to separate the flax's cellulose fibres from the rest of the flax plant, which could have taken months[30Jan15; 22Sep15; 20Oct15; 23Jun18]. The flax fibres would then have been spun into linen threads[08Jun14; 30Jan15; 22Sep15]; the linen threads would then have been woven on a loom[07Mar14; 30Jan15; 22Sep15], resulting in a ~4.42 x 1.13. metres (~14.4 x ~3.6 foot) linen cloth[10Jul15; 08Apr20]. Then, an unknown medieval forger[20Jun24] depicted Jesus' crucified body on the cloth[29May23]; by unknown means - it wasn't painted[11Jul16]; such that his image is a photographic negative[22Dec16]; three-dimensional[05Feb17]; extremely superficial[11Nov16]; non-directional[29Oct16]; and shows x-ray images of Jesus' teeth[20Apr17] and bones in his hands, teeth, skull and legs[20Apr17]. But X-rays were

[Above (enlarge): Extract of a positive photograph of the Shroud showing the finger (phalanges) and the hand (metacarpals) bones beneath the man's skin[20Apr17].]

discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen (1845-1923), 540 years after 1355! And the Shroud acquired such a widespread reputation so that when it was exhibited in 1355, "from all parts people came together to view it"[13Apr18; 19Oct22]! All in the 5 years between 1350 and 1355!

Let alone that the Shroud was originally part of a much wider linen cloth which had been woven on an extra-wide loom[08Oct16; 24May20; 20Jun24], up to 3.5 metres (~11.5 feet) wide[22Jan15; 08Oct16; 24May 20]. The extra-wide cloth was cut lengthwise into three or more pieces, one ~105 cm wide along one side, and another ~8 cm wide along the other side, each with selvedge (a woven edge)[22Jan15; 11Sep15], which became, respectively, the main body of the Shroud and the sidestrip[22Jan15; 24Aug15; 11Sep15]. Extra-wide

[Above (enlarge): "How the shroud was originally woven much wider than its present width. Reconstruction of the likely size of the bolt of cloth of which the two lengths of the Shroud (shaded) formed part. This wider cloth was very expertly cut lengthwise, then the raw (i.e. non-selvedge) edges of the shaded segments joined together by a very professional seam to form the Shroud we know today."[22Jan15; 11Sep15; 08Oct16; 24May 20].]

looms did not exist in medieval Europe[11Sep15; 08Oct16] but they did exist in the Roman Era[11Sep15; 08Oct16], which included the first century. The two side pieces with selvedge were joined by a seam down their inside cut edges[26Oct14; 22Jan15], forming a cloth ~14.4 feet long and ~3.6 feet wide (see above), which became the Shroud[22Jan15].

Shroud's dimensions are 8 by 2 Assyrian Standard Cubits The Shroud's dimensions are ~4.42 by 1.13 metres (14.5 feet by 3.7 feet)[10Jul15; 20Jun24; 03Aug24]. These are not based on medieval European units of measurement[MWW]. But they are very close to the Assyrian Standard Cubit of 21.6 inches[04Feb15; 10Jul15; 08Sep14; 08Apr20]. Which was the common unit of lineal measurement in Jesus' day[10Jul15; 24May 20; 21Mar23; 20Jun24; ; 03Aug24].The Assyrian Standard Cubit was derived by Egyptologist Matthew Petrie (1853-1942) and Assyriologist Julius Oppert (1825-1905)'s measurements of structures in the ruins

[Right: Shroud photograph with an 8 x 2 grid overlay showing that the Shroud divides evenly into 16 squares, each 442/8 = 55.25 cm = ~21.75 in. long by 113.35/2 = 56.7 cm = ~22.3 in. wide. That is, the length of each square, ~21.75, is only 0.15 in. more than the Standard Assyrian cubit of ~21.6 in. And the width of each square, ~22.3 in. is only ~0.7 in. more than that Assyrian cubit. Note that the face two squares, being 2 x 1 cubits, and one-eighth of the Shroud, show the man's head in landscape aspect, exactly as depicted in the Image of Edessa[RTB]!].

of ancient Babylon[04Feb15; 08Sep14; 04Feb15]. The Shroud's length of 14.5 feet is 174 inches. 174 divided by 21.6 = ~8.06 in. The Shroud's width of 3.7 feet is 44.4 inches. 44.4 divided by 21.6 = 2.06 in. That is, the Shroud's dimensions are 8 by 2 Assyrian Standard Cubits of 21.6 inches plus 6 hundredths of an inch! These measurement agreements between the Shroud and the Assyrian Standard Cubit of 21.6 inches are too many, in two directions[RTB], and too close, to be coincidental[RTB]. The only reasonable conclusion is that the Shroud is the "linen cloth" which the Gospels record that Jesus was buried in[Mt 27:59; Mk 15:46; Lk 23:53

To be continued in the twenty-third instalment of this post.

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page.

Bibliography
MWW. "Medieval weights and measures," Wikipedia, 26 July 2025.
RTB. Reference(s) to be provided.

Posted 31 July 2025. Updated 28 August 2025.

Friday, July 4, 2025

Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (1): Turin Shroud Encyclopedia

Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (1)

This is the "Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (1)," part #42 of my Turin Shroud Encyclopedia. I have split it into two because otherwise it will be too long. It will help me answer questions about my Hacker Theory in any future online interviews[14May25]. I need to do this before I write my open letter to Nature[22Jan25], as my 6-part "My Hacker Theory in a Nutshell" series turned out to be longer than I expected. Even though it was much shorter than my hacker posts it was based on! As in my "Hacker Theory in a Nutshell" series, references will normally be linked to my previous hacker posts. Graphics will be `flashcards' which I may hold up to the camera to illustrate a point. If a reference looks the same as another reference (e.g. "09Jan14"), when it is clicked it will open at the correct place.

Newcomers start with: "The Turin Shroud in a nutshell"

[Index #1] [Previous: My Hacker Theory (6) #41] [Next: Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (2) #43].

My Hacker Theory is that: "The 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin as `mediaeval ... 1260-1390' was the result of a computer hacking, by Arizona radiocarbon dating laboratory physicist Timothy W. Linick (1946-89), aided by German hacker Karl Koch (1965–89), on behalf of the former Soviet Union, through its agency the KGB." [23Jul15; 19Aug15; 13Apr19; 03Aug19].

1260-1390 The 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud as "mediaeval ... AD 1260-1390, with at least 95% confidence"[06Jan12; 22Jul12; 17Feb19] was from a 16 February 1989 article in the science journal Nature, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin." That article was not peer-reviewed[PM96, 110; GV01, 132-133; 28Jan25]. The "1390" date is fraudulent[22Jan25; 28Jan25]. The "with at least 95% confidence" is false[17Feb19; 29May19]. And the article contains evidence that the 1260-1390 date was the result of a computer hacking[28Jan25] (see future below)!

1325 ± 65 The midpoint of 1260-1390 is 1325 ± 65 years[09Jan14; 18Feb14; 11May14; 02Dec14; 23Jul15]. This `just happens' to be 30 years before the Shroud first appeared in undisputed history at Lirey, France in 1355[09Jan14; 18Feb14; 02Dec14; 23Jul15]! Tite fraudulently rounded to the nearest 10, "1384" to "1390," in the 1989 Nature article[22Jan25]. And it was Tite who pointed out at the 13 October 1988 press conference where he announced that the Shroud's radiocarbon date was "1260-1390"[03Oct18; 08Dec22], that "the Shroud's raw flax had most likely been made into linen on or about the year AD 1325, give or take sixty-five years either way"[11Jan10]. And, "Had anyone wished to discredit the Shroud, '1325 ± 65 years' is precisely the sort of date they would have looked to achieve"[09Jan14]!

AMS The Shroud's radiocarbon dating was by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS)[ 18Feb14; 24May14; 23Jul15]. Which was fully controlled by a computer[13Mar14; 08Jun14]. So it was vulnerable to hacking[08Dec14; 23Jul15; 28Feb25]. See below "VMS security flaw."

Markus Hess In 1986 Clifford Stoll (1950-), a System Administrator at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), caught a hacker, Markus Hess (1960-), dialing in from Germany, logging in to an LBL computer and from there logging into military and government computers elsewhere[22Feb14]. In the 1980s those computers had easily guessed login IDs and passwords[21Jul14].

Hacker ring Hess was a member of a German hacker ring which also included Hans Hubner (1968-) and Karl Koch (1965-89)[13Dec14]. The hacker ring sold hacked secrets to the Soviet Union through the KGB[02Jun16].

VMS security flaw In 1986 two German hackers with pseudonyms "Bach" and "Handel" discovered that the DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation)'s VMS (Virtual Memory System) operating system on DEC computers (which the 3 AMS computers were[05Jul14; 21Jul14]) had a major security flaw[21Jul14; 02Jun16; 07Apr25]. If a user typed any login and password, and simply ignored the error messages, he could enter the system[21Jul14; 02Jun16; 07Apr25]. And then by running a short program he could become a System Manager[21Jul14; 17May15; 02Jun16]!

Patch Linick would have been aware of this because DEC sent to the System Administrators of all DEC/VMS systems (which Linick was[09Jan21]) a software patch to be installed to close the loophole[21Jul14; 02Jun16]. However, the accompanying documentation was so low-key that most did not bother installing the patch[21Jul14; 02Jun16]. This likely would have been the case for the 3 AMS computers which were not online[21Jul14; 02Jun16].

Karl Koch Koch became an expert in hacking DEC/VMS systems[14May25]. Not only could he exploit the VMS security flaw, he was also an expert in guessing logins and passwords[14May25; 02Jun16].

Espionage Hess was arrested in June 1987, put on trial and convicted of espionage[21Jul14; 02Jun16]. This was worldwide news, so Linick would likely have heard of it. However, due to a police failure to catch Hess in the act of hacking, on appeal, his conviction was dismissed[21Jul14; 02Jun16].

Three AMS Laboratories On 10 October 1987[22Oct17; 08Dec22], the Archbishop of Turin, Cardinal Ballestrero (r. 1977-89), announced that the recommended 7 laboratories using 2 different methods, would be reduced to 3 laboratories using only the AMS method[31Mar15; 22Feb16; 13Mar21].

Identical Those 3 AMS laboratories were: Tucson, Arizona; Zurich, Switzerland; and Oxford, England[05Jul14]. The AMS systems of all three were effectively identical[13Jun14; 03Feb21], so the same hacker's program, with minor modifications, could run on each.

Linick could write a program After Ballestrero's announcement above , Linick would have realised that he could write a program to run on all 3 laboratories' AMS computers[05Jul14; 31Mar15], which would substitute their Shroud sample's first (or early because of irremovable carbon contamination) century date[see below] with computer-generated dates, which when combined and averaged, would make the Shroud appear to have been forged ~30 years before it first appeared in undisputed history in 1355[05Jul14; 31Mar15],

Linick was a signatory to the above Nature article[31Mar14; 05Jul14]. He was "extremely mathematically gifted[05Jul14; 13Aug14; 22Feb16]. Linick "was the one who was able to choose the program used for the machine. He did the programs." That is, Linick was Arizona laboratory's computer System Administrator[09Jan21].

[Above (enlarge): Photograph of Linick, in the black shirt, standing in front of Arizona radiocarbon dating laboratory leaders and staff around the AMS control console computer terminal after it had, on 6 May 1988 displayed Linick's computer-generated "1350" very first radiocarbon date of the Shroud[02Dec14; 22Feb16; 22Nov16]. That Linick is standing in front of Arizona laboratory leaders and staff indicates that he was in charge of Arizona's AMS computerised dating process and those present were acknowledging that[05Jul14; 22Feb16; 25Mar18; 23Jun18; 25Mar18; 08Dec22]. The photo is in Rochester radiocarbon dating laboratory's Prof. Harry Gove (1922-2009) 1996 book[GH96, 176H]. That Gove later realised that Linick was the leaker of Arizona's first "1350 AD" date to Sox is evident in that Gove barely mentioned Linick in his book but he couldn't take him out of this historic group photograph[25Mar18; 08Dec22]!]

Linick's problems Linick had major psychological and personal[09Jan21] problems. He was deeply introverted[30Dec15; 22Feb16; 15Aug17; 03Aug19]. Linick suffered from depression[30Dec15; 22Feb16; 09Jan21], and had threatened to commit suicide[09Jan21]. Linick was separated from his wife and son[09Jan21]. Linick's wife, Constance Blackburn (1953-2016), changed her surname back to her maiden surname (Ancestry.com), which seems unusual and suggests that she was aware of Linick having been involved in something shameful or criminal? Linick had become an "underachiever"[09Jan21]. It seems likely that Linick had been experiencing a mid-life crisis:

"Mid-life crisis ... a transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle-aged individuals ... a psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a person's growing age, inevitable mortality, and possible lack of accomplishments in life. This may produce feelings of intense depression, remorse, and high levels of anxiety; or the desire to ... make drastic changes to their current lifestyle ..." (my emphasis)[MLC].

Soviet Union In 1988 the Soviet Union (USSR) was on the brink of collapse[03ep14]. It did collapse in November 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall[03ep14]. The USSR was an Atheist State[03ep14], but within it were many millions of Roman Catholics, Russian Orthodox and Protestant Christians, who believed that  the Shroud was Jesus' burial sheet[03ep14]. So if the radiocarbon dating revealed that the Shroud was first (or early because of irremovable carbon contamination[13Jun14; 24Jun14; 30Dec15]) century, it would be major problem for the crumbling USSR[03ep14].

KGB So if in his depressed state, Linick sought to escape from his problems by offering the KGB, through the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco[03Sep14], a guaranteed pre-1355 radiocarbon date of the Shroud, for a large sum of money[24Jun14], if the KGB could provide a hacker who could install Linick's program on Zurich and Oxford AMS computers[07Apr25], the KGB would have eagerly accepted Linick's offer[03Sep14].

Not online The three laboratories' AMS computers were never online[07Mar14; 05Jul14], so although Linick could run his hacker program on Arizona's AMS computer, he needed a hacker to load and run his program on Zurich and Oxford's AMS computers[25Apr14; 21Jul14].

Automatic The AMS computers being off-line, to hack Zurich and Oxford's dating, Linick's program had to operate automatically with no human interventione[08Jun14; 30Jan15; 22Sep15; 15Oct15]. Each AMS dating run had a prearranged order, so when the program detected it was a Shroud sample, it substituted the Shroud's first (or early) century date[08Jun14; 30Jan15; 15Oct15], with a computer-generated date[13Jun14; 30Jan15; 15Oct15], which when combined and averaged across all three laboratories, returned a plausible pre-1355 radiocarbon date of the Shroud[05Jul14; 30Jan15; 22Sep15]. It was not necessarily 1260-1390 = 1325 ± 65 because Tite fraudulently rounded to the nearest ten 1384 to 1390[22Jan25].

Algorithm In addition to the above constraints on Linick's algorithm, because he needed Arizona's very first dating run of all three laboratories to be the psychological `hammer blow' date "1350," to overcome the Arizona scientists' critical faculties[08Jun14; 31Mar15; 22Feb16; 23Jun18; 22Jan25], and which he could leak to the media to create a climate of expectation[24Jun14; 22Sep15; 03Aug19; 21Mar23] that the Shroud's radiocarbon date would be close to its first appearance in undisputed history at Lirey, France in 1355[24Jun14; 22Oct17; 25Mar18]. But this created a problem for Linick in that because "1350" was the most recent of all three laboratories' dates of the Shroud, and Arizona's other dates of the Shroud would also have to be more recent than all the other laboratories'dates, otherwise the "1350" date would be too much an outlier. But then Linick's algorithm would have to balance Arizona's most recent dates with Zurich and Oxford's least recent dates, for the combined and averaged date of the Shroud across all three laboratories to be a few decades before 1355[22Jan25]. An article in Shroud News indirectly made this point:

"The Arizona and Switzerland lab dates gave a later age (late 14th century) than the final published results. The Oxford lab dates came in late and conveniently low enough to skewer the average of the three labs to an early 14th century date instead of a late 14th century date. Had the Oxford lab been consistent with the other two labs, the late 14th century results would clearly have made the whole procedure erroneous since we know that the Holy Shroud had to have been in existence in the early 14th Century since it was exhibited in 1340 [sic 1355] in France"[DV94, 11].
Reverse engineering Linick's aglorithm The mechanism of Linick's algorithm was random years within limits[08Jun14; 22Feb16; 20Mar19; 07Apr25]. In the Excel spreadsheet below, from 07Apr25,[Above: Reverse engineering Linick's algorithm: proof of concept. Starting with a laboratory's first run, `hard-wired' date, then each successive dating run being a random number between the limits of the target date and the previous dating run's date, the hacker's algorithm would converge on the target date, providing the algorithm controlled extremes. Zurich's dates were used because it had the most dating runs in Nature's Table 1. The "extremely mathematically gifted" (see above) Linick's program would be more sophisticated than my simple Excel spreadsheet, but the basic concept of random numbers within limits converging on a target date, for each laboratory would be the same.]

using Zurich's dates because it had the most dating runs in Nature's Table 1[28Jan25]. The numbers in the left-hand column under "Table 1" are Zurich's mean dates of its 5 dating runs [28Jan25]. As can be seen, Zurich's first run date, "733" (i.e. 1950-733 = 1217), is the least recent (oldest) of all Zurich's dates. As we saw above, Linick's algorithm needed to balance Arizona's most recent dates with Zurich and Oxford's least recent dates, so "733" was Linick's algorithm's `hard-wired' least recent Zurich date and so its dates had to move in the most recent (younger) direction. Therefore I assumed a target date of "630" for Zurich because "635" was the most recent (youngest) of Zurich dating runs. Column 2 "Hack" used Excel's "RANDBETWEEN(bottom, top)" funcrion. So, "721" in the second row was the result of RANDBETWEEN(630, 722). Pressing Excel's F9 (calculate) key 10 times, to simulate 10 runs, produced 10 different random numbers in each row of the "Hack" column, between the dates in each row of the Table 1 column and 630. And as can be seen, the mean of one of those 10 results "681.4" was very close to Zurich's Table 1 mean of "681.6"! (Table 2 of the Nature article says the mean of Zurich's Shroud dates was "676 ± 24"). I chose the "681.4" mean result as the best fit out of the 10 calculations with the F9 key, but Linick's program would presumably have the mathematical equivalent of a human choice of the best result. That I could get so close to Zurich's total mean date in only 10 tries must mean that this is indeed a `reverse engineering' of Linick's algorithm! It is clearly not possible to know exactly what Linick's algorithm was (since his program would likely have included an instruction for its own deletion after it had ceased dating the Shroud[08Jun14; 30Jan15; 29May19]). Nor is it possible to reproduce exactly the laboratories' hacked results (at least not in this "dot points" format). But coupled with the "proof beyond reasonable doubt" that my Linick-Koch Hacking Theory is true (see 14May25), this is as good as it gets!

Dating the Shroud samples This was carried out in mid-1988 by the 3 AMS radiocarbon dating laboratories. From 6 May (Arizona)[22Feb14; 23Jun18; 08Dec22], 25 June (Zurich)[08Dec22], and 4 July (Oxford)[08Dec22]. So Linick would have to give his program on tape or disc to the KGB well before 6 May 1988[14May25].

Amnesty West Germany in the 1980s had an amnesty for espionage, which included hacking[03Jun14; 02Jun16]. If those who had committed espionage came forward before they were caught (as Hess had been), and fully confessed their crimes, and cooperated fully with their prosecution, if found guilty of espionage, they would not be punished[03Jun14; 02Jun16].

Koch and Hubner In June 1988, Koch and Hubner, fearing that the authorities were about to arrest them (which they were), to take advantage of the amnesty for espionage, independently came forward to the West German authorities and admitted their hacking[21Jul14; 02Jun16]. Except that Koch, did not admit his hacking of Zurich and Oxford's AMS computers for the KGB, because he would have been warned by the KGB that their punishment for KGB spies who revealed the KGB's own secrets was being burned alive[14May25], as Koch was (see future below). Koch and Hubner were put on trial, found guilty of espionage, and, under the terms of the amnesty, walked free[CM92, 184].

Drug addict Koch had become a drug addict, living off his deceased parents' inheritance[21Jul14; 02Jun16]. The KGB exploited this by providing Koch with illicit drugs and cash in return for hacking[03Jun14].

Koch's legal jeopardy Koch was now in legal jeopardy because he had not confessed his hacking of the Shroud's radiocarbon dating for the KGB, and if the West German authorities found out that Koch had thereby breached the terms of his amnesty, he would have been imprisoned for all the hacking he had confessed to, as well as his hacking of Zurich and Oxford's Shroud radiocarbon dating[14May25]!

To be continued in "Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory (2)."

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page.

Bibliography
CM92. Clough. B. & Mungo, P., 1992, "Approaching Zero: Data Crime and the Computer," Faber & Faber: London & Boston.
DV94. de Vincenzo, V., 1994, "12 reasons why I cannot accept the carbon-14 test results on the Holy Shroud of Turin," Shroud News, No. 82, April, 3-13.
GH96. Gove, H.E., 1996, "Relic, Icon or Hoax?: Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud," Institute of Physics Publishing: Bristol UK.
GV01. Guerrera, V., 2001, "The Shroud of Turin: A Case for Authenticity," TAN: Rockford IL.
MLC. "Midlife crisis," Wikipedia, 14 June 2025.
PM96. Petrosillo, O. & Marinelli, E., 1996, "The Enigma of the Shroud: A Challenge to Science," Scerri, L.J., transl., Publishers Enterprises Group: Malta.

Posted 4 July 2025. Updated 4 August 2025.

Saturday, June 14, 2025

My Hacker Theory in a nutshell (6): Turin Shroud Encyclopedia

Copyright © Stephen E. Jones[1]

My Hacker Theory in a nutshell (6) #41

This is "My Hacker Theory in a nutshell (6)," Part 6 "Objections answered and Conclusion," part #41 of my Turin Shroud Encyclopedia. See Part 1 for more information about this 6-part series. Although a reference date may be the same (e.g. "15Sep16"), when clicked it will open at the correct place in the source.

Newcomers start with: "The Turin Shroud in a nutshell"

[Index: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5] [Previous: My Hacker Theory (5) #40] [Next: Dot points summary of my Hacker Theory #42].

Objections answered

Conspiracy theory This was a favourite of Dan Porter of the

[Right (enlarge[FCW]): In the movie "Conspiracy Theory" the conspiracy turned out to be true! So it is not that all conspiracy theories are automatically false, but that there are both true and false conspiracy theories.]

Shroud of Turin Blog. For example: "Stephen Jones Continues his Computer Hacking Conspiracy Theory"[05Jul14]; and "I Tried to Ignore the Carbon Dating Computer Hacking Conspiracy Theory" [18May15]. For Porter it was sufficient to label my Hacker Theory a "conspiracy theory" for him to dismiss it as false, without bothering to consider the evidence for it. Although I cannot find by searching other posts by Porter which dismised my Hacker Theory as a "conspiracy theory," I can find my responses to Porter's "conspiracy theory" dismissals of my Hacker Theory:

The KGB did conspire with hackers In an early post [31Mar14] on my hacker proposal (before I called it a theory), I wrote:

"While I do not claim that Timothy W. Linick WAS a hacker, nor that his untimely death WAS suicide, let alone an execution by the KGB designed to look like suicide, it nevertheless is worth keeping in mind as a possible piece of the jigsaw. This will no doubt be dismissed as a `conspiracy theory' by those who prefer mindless slogans to thinking. But it is a FACT that the KGB did CONSPIRE with hackers, notably Karl Koch, of whose death Wikipedia notes that, `there is little evidence supporting suicide and many believe that Koch was killed in order to keep him from confessing more to the authorities'. And it is a FACT that the KGB did CONSPIRE with hacker Markus Hess whom Clifford Stoll caught" (emphasis original)
Note the tentative start to my Hacker Theory, which I originally called a "proposal"[22Feb14; 13Mar14; 31Mar14; 18Apr14; 24May14] as I sought more evidence for (and against) it. This is the opposite of false conspiracy theories which start full-blown, with little evidence to support them.

Neither Koch nor the KGB were essential to my Hacker Theory[13Dec14; 03Jun15; 30Jun15; 02Jun16; 15Sep16]. Although my Hacker Theory later became a theory that Linick conspired with the KGB to have his program installed on Zurich and Oxford's AMS computers[15Sep16; 15Jul18], originally I was open to the possibility that Linick had not conspired with anyone, but had acted alone (for example had visited those two laboratories to install his program as a software update)[13Dec14; 30Jun15; 15Sep16; 15Jul18]. This is an important point, as false conspiracy theories do not admit the possibility that there was no conspiracy.

That all conspiracy theories are automatically false is a "modern day superstition" An early, but since deleted, paragraph in Wikipedia's "Conspiracy theory" article pointed out that that "belief in conspiracy theories can be rational and that the skepticism of conspiracy theorising ... is akin to a modern day superstition":

"A conspiracy theory is an explanatory hypothesis ... Although the term `conspiracy theory' has acquired a derogatory meaning over time and is often used to dismiss or ridicule beliefs in conspiracies, it has also continued to be used by some to refer to actual, proven conspiracies, such as U.S. President Richard Nixon and his aides conspiring to cover up Watergate ... [and] some thinkers, particularly philosophers, have argued that belief in conspiracy theories can be rational and that the skepticism of conspiracy theorising ... is akin to a modern day superstition"[30Jun15].
My Hacker Theory does not fit Wikipedia's definition of a "conspiracy theory" [15Sep16]
"A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable. The term generally has a negative connotation, implying that the appeal of a conspiracy theory is based in prejudice, emotional conviction, or insufficient evidence. A conspiracy theory is distinct from a conspiracy; it refers to a hypothesized conspiracy with specific characteristics, including but not limited to opposition to the mainstream consensus among those who are qualified to evaluate its accuracy, such as scientists or historians" (my emphasis)[CTW].
"when other explanations are more probable" Shroud sceptics (and perhaps the current majority of Shroudies) would disagree that my Hacker Theory is the most probable explanation why the first-century Shroud has a 1260-1390 radiocarbon date. But see the future Conclusion why my Hacker Theory is.

"the appeal of a conspiracy theory is based in prejudice, emotional conviction, or insufficient evidence" My Hacker Theory is based on sufficient evidence.

"opposition to the mainstream consensus among those who are qualified to evaluate its accuracy." Shroudies are the best qualified to evaluate the accuracy of my Hacker Theory, and I am quietly confident that the majority of them will eventually accept it. The "mainstream consensus among ... scientists or historians" is that the Shroud has a 1260-1390 radiocarbon date. But they are wrong, because, as we saw in Part 2, there is historical and artistic evidence that "the Shroud is more than seven centuries ... older than its earliest "1260" radiocarbon date ... and so that date cannot be correct."

Circumstantial evidence
`Your Hacker Theory is based only on circumstantial evidence.' I am not aware of anyone who has made that criticism of my Hacker Theory, so this is my response to an anticipated criticism of it[15Sep16].

Circumstantial evidence is indirect, by contrast with direct evidence. According to Wikipedia:

"Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly, i.e., without need for any additional evidence or inference"[CVW].
Wikipedia gives examples of direct and circumstantial evidence:
"For example, a witness saying that she saw a defendant stab a victim is providing direct evidence. By contrast, a witness saying that she saw a defendant enter a house, heard screaming, and saw the defendant leave with a bloody knife [and a victim is found in the house with a bleeding stab wound] is circumstantial evidence. It is the need for inference, and not the obviousness of the fact inferred, that determines whether evidence is circumstantial"[CVW].
I had admitted that, "Absent a confession or a statement by someone involved in the ... radiocarbon dating of the Shroud ... or in its hacking ... or the discovery of direct evidence of the hacking ... my theory will remain circumstantial":
"Absent a confession or a statement by someone involved in the 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud (e.g. a scientist in one of the three laboratories), or in its hacking (e.g. a KGB agent), that the dating was the result of a computer hacking; or the discovery of direct evidence of the hacking (e.g. Linick' program still on one of the three laboratories' old AMS computers or backup tapes), my theory will remain circumstantial"[15Sep16].
I had acknowledged this in previous posts and comments:
"... Although I don't yet have a `smoking gun' clue [I now do have-see future] that PROVES: 1) that the 3 labs were hacked; 2) that Linick was a hackers; and 3) that Koch was the other hacker involved in the C14 dating. I am in the position that a police detective would be in the early stage of a crime investigation. I have a lot of circumstantial evidence that points to a crime having been committed and I have two suspects. But unlike a detective I have no authority or ability to further investigate the crime by visiting the crime scenes and asking questions of those who would be in a position to know more information that would either confirm or refute my suspicions.[08May14].

"Even though my theory at this early stage is entirely circumstantial, lacking as yet a `smoking gun' [It now does not lack that-see future] ..."[13Jun14]
Wikipedia continues:
"On its own, circumstantial evidence allows for more than one explanation. Different pieces of circumstantial evidence may be required, so that each corroborates the conclusions drawn from the others. Together, they may more strongly support one particular inference over another. An explanation involving circumstantial evidence becomes more likely once alternative explanations have been ruled out" (my emphasis)[CVW].
In my Hacker Theory posts I have posted many different items of evidence which support my Hacker Theory. And I have reviewed all other Shroudie explanations that I am aware of, and shown them to be fatally flawed (see Part 3). That all the sceptics' explanations which I am aware of all fail was the subject of a previous series. This leaves my Hacker Theory more likely to be the only true explanation why the first-century Shroud has a 1260-1390 radiocarbon date[15Sep16].

Either I had overlooked it, or it wasn't there in 2016 when I posted my "circumstantial evidence" post[15Sep16], that Wikipedia calls it "A popular misconception ... that circumstantial evidence is less valid or less important than direct evidence" when "circumstantial evidence can have an advantage over direct evidence in that it can come from multiple sources that check and reinforce each other".

"A popular misconception is that circumstantial evidence is less valid or less important than direct evidence, which is popularly assumed to be the most powerful, but this is not the case. Many successful criminal prosecutions rely largely or entirely on circumstantial evidence, and civil charges are frequently based on circumstantial or indirect evidence. The common metaphor for the strongest possible evidence in any case—the "smoking gun"—is an example of proof based on circumstantial evidence. Similarly, fingerprint evidence, videotapes, sound recordings, photographs, and many other examples of physical evidence that support the drawing of an inference, i.e., circumstantial evidence, are considered very strong possible evidence. In practice, circumstantial evidence can have an advantage over direct evidence in that it can come from multiple sources that check and reinforce each other. Eyewitness testimony can be inaccurate at times, and many persons have been convicted on the basis of perjured or otherwise mistaken testimony. Thus, strong circumstantial evidence can provide a more reliable basis for a verdict"[CVW].
Obviously, a confession from Linick himself (e.g. in a diary entry), a statement that Linick was a hacker by his estranged wife Constance Blackburn (1952-2016) (who interestingly changed her name back to her maiden name), or that Linick had hacked the Shroud's radiocarbon dating by Arizona Laboratory leaders Paul Damon (1921-2005) and Douglas Donahue (1924-2020), or the unoficial leader of the laboratories, Harry Gove (1922-2009, would be direct evidence that Linick had hacked the Shroud's dating, but as can be seen, they are all deceased.

Nevertheless, as we saw in Part 5, there is "circumstantial evidence ... from multiple sources that check and reinforce each other," including a "smoking gun" (the mention of the single word "espionage" by a German-sounding male, who said in a March 1989 phone call to "Harry" that he had been involved in falsifying the results of the Shroud's 1988 dating, which is proof beyond reasonable doubt that the caller was Karl Koch[14May25]) which is "strong circumstantial evidence" that does "provide a ... reliable basis for a verdict" that Linick, aided by Koch, did hack the Shroud's 1260-1390 radiocarbon date!

Conclusion In conclusion, we saw in:
Part 1. The 1989 Nature article contains evidence that the 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Shroud was the result of a computer hacking. For one, "the mean date of Arizona's first run, 1359, was the most recent (youngest) of all three laboratories' 12 dating runs ... the mean date of Oxford's first run, 1155, was the least recent (oldest) of all three laboratories' 12 dating runs ... [and] the mean date of Zurich's first run, 1217, was the least recent (oldest) of Zurich's 5 dating runs. The chance of this happening is 1/4 x 1/3 × 1/5 = 1/60." These first run dates of each laboratory were part of the hacker's algorithm.

Part 2. There is historical and artistic evidence that the Shroud is much older than the earliest, 1260, radiocarbon date. For more historical and artistic evidence that the Shroud was in existence long before 1260, see my early Hacker Theory posts: 29Mar14; 04May14; 11May14 & 18May14, and my "Open letter to Professor Christopher Ramsey" [04Oct18].

Part 3. Other Shroudie explanations all fail [28Febr25]. Other Shroudie explanations why the first century Shroud has a 1260-1390 = 1325±65 radiocarbon date contain fatal flaws. This includes the Neutron Flux theory; the Carbon Contamination theory; the Bioplastic Coating theory; the Invisible Reweave theory and the Sample Switch theory.

Part 4. The primary hacker was Arizona laboratory physicist Timothy W. Linick (1946-89)[07Apr25]. See the next Part 5 for proof beyond reasonable doubt that my Linick-Koch Hacker Theory is true!

Part 5. The secondary hacker was German hacker, Karl Koch (1965-89). [14May25]

"... just as Robinson Crusoe's discovery of a single footprint in the sand was proof beyond reasonable doubt that he was no longer the only human on his island, so the mention of the single word "espionage" by a German-sounding male, who said in a March 1989 phone call to "Harry" that he had been involved in falsifying the results of the Shroud's 1988 dating, is proof beyond reasonable doubt that the caller was Karl Koch!
It is therefore a `two factor authentication' that my Linick-Koch Hacker Theory is true, and therefore the 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Shroud is the greatest scientific fraud of all time (because of its length of time - ~37 years and counting; the many millions of persons misled, and its obstacle to saving Christian faith (Mt 18:6; Mk 9:42; Lk 17:2) of millions)!

However, I do not claim that the laboratories knew that Linick had hacked the Shroud's radiocarbon dates, but that they were duped by him.

Notes:
1. This post is copyright. I grant permission to extract or quote from any part of it (but not the whole post), provided the extract or quote includes a reference citing my name, its title, its date, and a hyperlink back to this page.

Bibliography
CTW. "Conspiracy theory," Wikipedia, 16 June 2025.
CVW. "Circumstantial evidence," Wikipedia, 21 March 2025.
FCW. "File:Conspiracy theory poster.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, 18 July 2024.

Posted 14 June 2025. Updated 26 July 2025.