Dartmouth Computer Scientist Hany Farid has new evidence regarding a photograph of accused John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Farid, a pioneer in the field of digital forensics, digitally analyzed an iconic image of Oswald pictured in a backyard setting holding a rifle in one hand and Marxist newspapers in the other.
Oswald and others claimed that the incriminating photo was a fake, noting the seemingly inconsistent lighting and shadows. After analyzing the photo with modern-day forensic tools, Farid says the photo almost certainly was not altered.
"If we had found evidence of photo tampering, then it would have suggested a broader plot to kill JFK," said Farid, who is also the director of the Neukom Institute for Computational Science at Dartmouth. "Those who believe that there was a broader conspiracy can no longer point to this photo as possible evidence."
Farid added that federal officials long ago said that this image had not been tampered with, but a surprising number of skeptics still assert that there was a conspiracy.
The study will appear in a forthcoming issue of the journal Perception.
Farid and his team have developed a number of digital forensic tools used to determine whether digital photos have been manipulated, and his research is often used by law enforcement officials and in legal proceedings. The tools can measure statistical inconsistencies in the underlying image pixels, improbable lighting and shadow, physically impossible perspective distortion, and other artifacts introduced by photo manipulators. The play of light and shadow was fundamental in the Oswald photo analysis.
"The human brain, while remarkable in many aspects, also has its weaknesses," says Farid. "The visual system can be quite inept at making judgments regarding 3-D geometry, lighting, and shadows."
At a casual glance, the lighting and shadows in the Oswald photo appear to many to be incongruous with the outdoor lighting. To determine if this was the case, Farid constructed a 3-D model of Oswald's head and portions of the backyard scene, from which he was able to determine that a single light source, the sun, could explain all of the shadows in the photo.
"It is highly improbable that anyone could have created such a perfect forgery with the technology available in 1963," said Farid. With no evidence of tampering, he concluded that the incriminating photo was authentic.
"As our digital forensic tools become more sophisticated, we increasingly have the ability to apply them to historic photos in an attempt to resolve some long-standing mysteries," said Farid.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by the Dartmouth College
Subscribe
New species of ancient crocodile discovered
Kitchen gadget inspires scientist to make more effective plastic electronics
Making memories last
Ferroelectric switching discovered for first time in soft biological tissue
Shakespeare's skill 'more in grammar than in words'
Detailed picture of how myoV 'walks' along actin tracks
Need muscle for a tough spot? Turn to fat stem cells
Earth's energy budget remained out of balance despite unusually low solar activity
The wild early lives of today's most massive galaxies
What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?
Pictures of food create feelings of hunger
Mighty mesh
Sweeten up your profits with the right hybrid
Patterns of antibiotic-resistant bacteria found in Galapagos reptiles
Bilayer graphene works as an insulator
How seawater could corrode nuclear fuel
Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?
Advantages of living in the dark: The multiple evolution events of 'blind' cavefish
Snakes improve search-and-rescue robots
Enhancing cognition in older adults also changes personality
Magnetic actuation enables nanoscale thermal analysis
A new artificial intelligence technique to speed the planning of tasks when resources are limited
'Tiger mothers' should tame parenting approach
Film coatings made from whey
Growing US violent extremism by the numbers
If a fat tax is coming, here's how to make it efficient, effective
Bobsled runs -- fast and yet safe
Fruit fly intestine may hold secret to the fountain of youth
Forensic research extends detection of cyanide poisoning
Backpacks, not the bombs inside, key to finding DNA
New biometric data standard adds DNA, footmarks and enhanced fingerprint descriptions
Where does my beer come from?
Quack medicines, insect immigrants, and what eats what among secrets revealed by DNA barcodes
Digging up clues: Research on buried blow flies to help crime scene investigators