McCrone, Walter C., Jr.

▪ 2003

      American scientist (b. June 9, 1916, Wilmington, Del.—d. July 10, 2002, Chicago, Ill.), used chemical microscopy to debunk historical myths and forgeries. By examining samples of hair, he ascertained that Napoleon Bonaparte did not die from poisoning but that Ludwig van Beethoven did contract lead poisoning. McCrone also found that the Vinland Map of Yale University Library, thought to show that contemporaries of Christopher Columbus were already aware of the New World, was a modern forgery—20th-century ink on medieval parchment. His biggest discovery came in 1978 when he concluded that the Shroud of Turin dated back only to the Middle Ages and thus could not have been the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth. McCrone attended Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., before moving to Chicago, where he was credited with having revolutionized the design and use of light microscopes and electron microscopes and with having led the growth of his research institute as it attained the status of a world leader.

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