Particle Physicists may solve JFK murder mystery
 

Has anyone seen the latest (March) issue of Reader's Digest? Two particle physicists may be able to solve a decades long controversy: Were there 3 shots fired (as the Warren commission said) or 4 shots (Congressional inquiry by the House Select Committee on Assassinations) or 5?

Carl Haber heard a radio newscast while stuck in traffic that said that the Library of Congress had many historic items that were in a fragile state, and that many of the popular songs and famous speeches of the early 1900's couldnt be played due to damage and decay. Enter Carl Haber and Vitaliy Fadeyev, two particle physisits from Lawrence Berkeley's National Laboratory who developed sensors to map the tracks made by subatomic particles unleashed in physics experiments and wondered if their methods could be used to map microscopic contours of old sound recordings (Dictbelt #10 is the medium on which the shots were recorded from a police radio channel between 12:05 and 12:40pm on 11/22/63; purely by accident, the radio microphone of a motorcade motorcycle cop was stuck in the "on" position, and recorded the shots).

For the record, Haber and Vitaliy arent as interested in solving the mystery as they are in developing technology that would preserve historic sound recordings. They convert analog info into a digital format, thus creating a virtual copy of the original without playing it! They started with old 78 records from a used record store and scanned the record's grooves with a digital microscope known as a SmartScope. Fadeyev then wrote a software program to simulate the action of the needle traveling thru virtual grooves. After this, the two men ran the virtual recording thru the program they created and voila! MUSIC!

Archivists at the Library of Congress loaned Haber and Fadeyev a batch of early sound recordings and the two scientists used a device called a confocal microscope to capture the data. The confocal microscope works differently from a SmartScope in that it doesnt scan an entire area, but rather focuses a beam of light on a very small area, capturing the reflection in a photo detector that feeds the measurements into a computer which then assembles a composite from thousands of tiny points. Haber and Fadeyev scanned an "Edison cylinder" of a 1909 song "Just before the Battle, Mother", and the resulting copy eliminated much of the original's crackling/popping/hissing!

The mystery of JFK's murder is made even murkier by the question of just HOW MANY gunmen there were-1 or 2? The Warren Commission determined Lee Harvey Oswald fired three shots from the Texas School Book Depository.
The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) hired James Barger, a prominent audio scientist to assess the recordings. HE heard 4 shots.
Early in 2001, Donald Thomas, a government scientist interested in the Kennedy shooting, published an article in a British forensics journal, that used a mathematical review of the acoustic evidence and concluded there were 5 shots in two different directions!. The hope is that a digital map of the Dictabelt can solve the mystery...

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I dont know about all of you, but to me, the act of preserving forever these national treasures (and solving the mystery of JFK's murder) is an exciting prospect, and I cant wait to hear what they found out!

Not to mention, if they perfect the "map the groove" technology they used to read the old '78s, maybe they'll come up with a home version of the machine, and we'll all finally be able to listen to our Buckingham Nicks LPs in crystal clarity (since I don't think it will EVER be released on CD).

:blob1: :laugh: :blob2:

As for the JFK murder - I just can't decide if I really care anymore. It's not like anyone is going to actually be held responsible, if they prove it wasn't Oswald. And if their findings point in the direction of proving an inside govt conspiracy, then what kinda mess are we going to be in?

The kind where we find out the truth? I would love it. I don't care if there's a "mess" if we find out a gov't conspiracy, I think that is all the more reason we should know. :wavey:

Yeah, you're right - we should know. And I think we have a right to know. I just can't decide if I *want* to know. :laugh:

- Chuck "really sick of constant 24-hr-a-day controversy" L.

awww, Chuck. :p I already think there was a conspiracy, anyway, so that works for me! :laugh:

Well, Im interested in knowing the truth!
 

I have always believed that JFK was assassinated by the mob in cahoots with some Government entity somehow...And I think his son was taken care of the same way, probably by the same forces. The Kennedys seem to be "cursed" that after Jack, there would be no more. Teddy is allowed to stay where he is only as long as he realizes how precarious his place is. When he ran for President, the opposition lost no time putting the Mary Jo Kopeckne incident out there for public consumption and every Kennedy since that has had a skeleton has been publicly humiliated. John apparently led a fairly blameless life, and the only way to stave off HIS possible run for office was to kill him. JMO.

Having said that however, I think the even bigger story here is the preservation of old films/music/speeches etc. The film industry in particular is especially in dire need of preservation for the canisters upon canisters of old celluloid movies that are turning to goo...such a shame too...Archivists are really excited about this new technology that may preserve these items after all! I am excited about it too, for History's sake!