Walter McCrone facts for kids

Walter Cox McCrone Jr. (June 9, 1916 – July 10, 2002) was a famous American chemist and scientist who was a leading expert in using microscopes to study tiny things. He was so good at using polarized light microscopy that some people called him the "father of modern microscopy." He used his skills to analyze all sorts of materials, from chemicals and medicines to historical documents and artifacts, helping to solve mysteries and understand the world on a very small scale.

Early Life and Education

• Born: June 9, 1916, in Wilmington, Delaware.
• Grew Up: Mostly in New York State.
• Family: His father was an engineer who worked at one of the first factories making cellophane.
• College: He went to Cornell University, a well-known school.
• Degrees: He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1938 and then continued his studies to get a Ph.D. (a very advanced degree) in organic chemistry in 1942.

After finishing his studies, he worked as a researcher at Cornell for a couple of years. He even wrote a detailed study about looking at tiny particles in high explosives using a microscope – showing early on his interest in analyzing materials.

In 1944, McCrone started working at the Armour Research Foundation (which is now part of the Illinois Institute of Technology or IIT). Here, he became a professor and continued to develop his skills as a microscopist and materials scientist. He was so passionate about microscopy that he helped start the first of the meetings that are now called the International Microscopy Conference, bringing together scientists from all over to share ideas about using microscopes.

In 1956, McCrone decided to start his own company, McCrone Associates, where he and his team used their microscopy skills to help other companies and people solve problems by analyzing materials.

A few years later, in 1960, he founded the McCrone Research Institute in Chicago. This was a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching others how to use microscopes and conduct research. He loved teaching and sharing his knowledge. It's said that he taught more students about microscopy than anyone else in history!

He also spent over thirty years as the editor and publisher of The Microscope, an international magazine about microscopy, helping to share new discoveries and techniques with scientists around the world.

Important Scientific Contributions

McCrone was a master of using different types of microscopes, especially polarized light microscopy. This technique uses special light to help identify different materials based on how they interact with the light. He was also an expert in:

• Electron Microscopy: Using electrons instead of light to see even smaller details.
• Crystallography: Studying the structure of crystals.
• Ultra-microanalysis: Analyzing extremely tiny amounts of material.
• Particle Identification: Figuring out what tiny particles are made of.

One of his important areas of research was polymorphism. This is when a material can exist in different crystal forms, even though it's the same chemical substance. These different forms can have different properties. McCrone's work on polymorphism was especially important for making medicines, as the different crystal forms of a drug can affect how well it works in the body.

He also wrote many articles and books. One of his most famous works was "The Particle Atlas", first published in 1967. This was like a giant guide book with detailed descriptions and pictures of thousands of different tiny particles, helping scientists identify unknown substances they found under the microscope. It became a very important tool for scientists, especially those working in forensic science.

Solving Mysteries with a Microscope

Walter McCrone became well-known to the public for using his microscopy skills to investigate historical mysteries and help in legal cases.

• The Vinland Map: This map appeared in the 1950s and seemed to show parts of North America before Christopher Columbus's voyages. If it was real, it would change our understanding of history! Yale University asked McCrone to analyze the ink on the map in the 1970s. Using his microscope, he found tiny particles of a substance called synthetic anatase in the ink. This type of anatase wasn't used as a pigment until the 1920s. This finding strongly suggested that the map was a fake, created much later than it claimed to be. While there was some debate at first, later research, including work done as recently as 2021, confirmed McCrone's findings based on the presence of the modern ink.

• The Shroud of Turin: This is a piece of linen cloth that some people believe was the burial cloth of Jesus. It has an image on it that looks like a person. Scientists were allowed to study the Shroud in 1978. McCrone analyzed tiny samples of fibers taken from the cloth using his microscope. He concluded that the image was made using paint pigments, specifically red ochre and vermilion, mixed with a binder like gelatin. He didn't find evidence of actual blood where the "bloodstains" appeared. His findings were different from what some other scientists on the project believed, and there was a lot of discussion about it. However, McCrone was confident in his microscopic analysis. Years later, in 1988, radiocarbon dating tests were done on the Shroud, which estimated that the linen was made in the Middle Ages, around the time McCrone suggested the painting technique he identified was used. This dating supported McCrone's conclusion that the image was created much later than the time of Jesus.

Other Cases

McCrone also used his skills in legal cases. For example, he helped show that stains presented as evidence in one case were actually red paint, not blood, which helped a person who had been wrongly convicted. He also analyzed physical evidence like hairs and fibers in other investigations, using his microscope to provide important scientific information. He even analyzed hair samples from famous historical figures like Napoleon and Beethoven to look for clues about their health or what might have caused them to be sick, by identifying tiny traces of elements.

Legacy and Recognition

Walter McCrone passed away in 2002 at the age of 86. He left behind a huge legacy in the world of science. He received many awards for his work, including the American Chemical Society's National Award in Analytical Chemistry in 2000, partly for his important work on the Shroud of Turin and his dedication to using scientific methods. After he passed away, he was included in the "Pantheon of Skeptics" by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, recognizing his important contributions to using science and critical thinking to investigate claims.