It may interest skeptics to know that many people of faith believe that there is scientific evidence which supports their belief in the shroud's authenticity. Of course, the evidence is limited almost exclusively to pointing out facts that would be true if the shroud were authentic. For example, it is claimed to be the negative image of a crucifixion victim. It is claimed to be the image of a man brutally beaten in a way which corresponds to the way Jesus is depicted as having been treated in the Bible. It is also claimed that the image is not a painting but a miraculously transposed image.
Skeptics disagree and argue that the shroud is a painting and a forgery.
The case for the forged shroud is made most forcefully by Joe Nickell in his Inquest On The Shroud Of Turin, which was written in collaboration with a panel of scientific and technical experts. The author claims that historical, iconographic, pathological, physical, and chemical evidence points to inauthenticity. Another scholar to declare the shroud a fake is Walter McCrone , a microchemist. Vermilion paint, made from mercuric sulphide, was then splashed onto the image's wrists, feet and body to represent blood. For his work, McCrone was awarded the American Chemical Society's Award in Analytical Chemistry .