Paper
26 August 1977 Optical Microscopy As Used In Unorthodox Ways
Charles Proffer Saylor
Author Affiliations +
Proceedings Volume 0104, Multidisciplinary Microscopy; (1977) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.955414
Event: 1977 SPIE/SPSE Technical Symposium East, 1977, Reston, United States
Abstract
In the nineteen thirties, before the great Government crime laboratories were established, individual scientific workers in the Federal agencies were sometimes called upon to settle important questions that the detectives could not handle. For this purpose, it was often necessary to invent new techniques to tackle problems by new approaches. The laboratory man needed to develop imaginative ways of looking at fragmentary material that became available. This presentation will deal with three episodes involving original procedures. The procedures proved their point in the issues at hand, but the findings were never used in court so far as the author is aware. They have not been published or publicly disclosed. If a board has been sawed into three pieces of which the middle one is missing, how do you establish that the end pieces were once joined? If a method of recognizing typescript is developed that provides quick and convincing evidence of identity, what are the chances that a sophisticated forger, knowing the technique of recognition, could successfully imitate the identity? What do you do if the exhibits in a murder case are effective and relevant evidence so far as the facts are concerned, but indicate that another and critical piece of evidence is missing? Suppose that without the missing piece, nothing else has firm meaning! These three examples are chosen for presentation because, although the microscopical techniques that were used are interesting, they appear to have lain dormant for over forty years.
© (1977) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Charles Proffer Saylor "Optical Microscopy As Used In Unorthodox Ways", Proc. SPIE 0104, Multidisciplinary Microscopy, (26 August 1977); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.955414
Advertisement
Advertisement
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission  Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace
KEYWORDS
Microscopy

Microscopes

Firearms

Optical microscopy

Teeth

Reflectors

Eye

Back to Top