It was claimed that in some cases actual results could be achieved. For example, in one case it was recorded that a man killed his own wife, and this was understood from the image of the ax on his wife’s retina. Even Jack the Ripper They even considered optography in their file.

When you’re ready, find out how optography came about, what cases it helps solve, and… What is the situation today? Let’s watch together.

How did optography come about?

Sphere

Scientists have been like that for a long time; He wondered if it was possible to capture the image the eye last saw before it died. This idea was first discovered in the 17th century in the retina of a frog he was examining. a vague image It was brought up by Christopher Schiener, who claimed to have seen it. However, until the invention of photography in the 1840s, optography was not a scientific pursuit.

Scientists have discovered that the retina covers images so it can function like a camera. similar to silver nitrate film Somehow they thought it contained light-sensitive chemicals. In 1876, a German physiologist, Franz Christian Boll, discovered rhodopsin, a light-sensitive protein found in the rod cells of the retina that acts like a camera nitrate. It faded when exposed to light.

Physiologist Boll died of tuberculosis when he was only thirty years old.

Kuhne

At the time of Boll’s death, his studies in optography had not yet been fully advanced. After this unfortunate death, another follower of Boll, a German physiologist, followed Wilhelm Kuhnewanted to improve the work of his idol.

Kühne, who experimented on many animals, removed their eyes after they died and for fixation on the retina exposed him to various chemicals. He suggested that the alum compound produced the best results.

In one experiment, an albino rabbit was fixed so that it could see clouds in the sky. The poor rabbit was exposed to light for 3 minutes and then decapitated and killed. eyes removed.

The posterior half of the eyeball containing the retina was placed in an alum solution for fixation. The next day there was a lump on the retina. window photo it seemed.

Kühne was determined to demonstrate this technique on a human.

On November 16, 1880, a murderer named Erhard Gustav Reif was executed by guillotine. The man’s eyes were removed ten minutes after his death It was sent to Kühne’s laboratory.

The optograms obtained from Reif’s eyes have not survived to this day, but they can be found in Kühne’s book published in 1881. Retinal anatomy and physiological observationsThere is a design of it. Kühn says that the image in the sketch could be a guillotine knife or a staircase leading to the gallows.

Despite being a dubious ‘science’, Kühne’s experiments spread quickly. Law enforcement agencies in Britain and the US, in criminal investigations He tried to use optography. Although not scientifically reliable, this has not prevented forensic optograms from being used in famous criminal cases and appearing in actual trial transcripts.

Research into the use of optograms in criminal cases continued.

French Society of Forensic Medicine, Dr. He asked Maxime Vernois to conduct an investigation into the possibility of optographers being admitted as evidence in murder cases. Doctor, at least seventeen animals killed and plucked out his eyes, but it was in vain.

He wrote: ‘In the retina of a victim portrait of the killer “It is impossible to find a representation of any object or physical feature encountered at the time of death.”

Of course, the emphasis on the use of optography did not end there.

Optography was also taken very seriously in cases such as the double murder of Laura Shearman and Cynthia Davis, the Villisca ax murders in 1912, and the murder of Tracy Hollander in 1914. Detectives investigating the Jack the Ripper murders even believed that the technique About the Ripper’s victims He wanted it tested.

In 1924, a striking series of murders took place in Germany.

Fritz Heinrich Angerstein had committed a series of murders, including those of his family and his household staff. When the carnage was over, Angerstein among the victims Eight people died, including his sister-in-law, his accountant, his clerk, his gardener and his assistant.

Angerstein initially claimed that he was attacked by thugs, who murdered everyone in the house and left him for dead. However, as the investigation progressed, Angerstein Doubts about the story started to appear. There were many contradictions in his statements.

The suspect was arrested and charged with murder, but continued to deny it. Until one of the police officers arrives with convincing evidence. A professor managed to photograph the retinas of two of the victims. It was claimed that this photo showed Angerstein with his arms raised and an ax in his hand. case, a optogram reached It was recorded as the best example, but it did not bring any certainty.

The idea of ​​optography was also widespread among murderers.

Some murderers who heard about optography went to great lengths to destroy their victims’ eyes. For example, in 1927, unarmed police officer George Gutteridge brutally shot in both eyes He was murdered. In another case, a woman in Alsace murdered her mother-in-law and then gouged out her eyes to destroy the evidence.

By the early 20th century, researchers had given up all hope that optography could be turned into a useful forensic technique.

The work of physiologists such as Kühn has succeeded in creating many high-contrast images from the eyes of rabbits and has led to increased interest in optography as a potential tool in forensics. Although it has increased public interest They realized that this method would never be sufficient for forensic purposes.

Optography; It is common in literature, art and media.

Popular science fiction author Jules Verne proposed the idea that the science of optography could have forensic potential in his 1902 novel “Les Frères Kip.” Made in 1936″“Invisible Ray” The film also included a scene where he uses an ultraviolet camera to photograph a victim’s dead eyes.

He also appeared in the 1971 Italian film “Four Flies on Gray Velvet” and in the 1975 film “Four Flies on Gray Velvet”. “Doctor who” In one of the episodes, optography was reintroduced into the plot.