Ahira's Hangar

David Zindell's Neverness, A Requiem for Homo Sapiens and all things Science Fiction and Fantasy
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 12:44 pm

All times are UTC




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 2 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: news from da lab
PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:24 am 
Offline
Lady Scryer
User avatar

Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2002 5:11 pm
Posts: 9653
Location: Michigan, USA
Have scientists found Mozart's skull?

Tuesday, January 3, 2006; Posted: 12:47 p.m. EST (17:47 GMT)


Mozart died in 1791 and was buried in a pauper's grave in Vienna.
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Researchers say they will reveal the results of DNA tests on a skull believed to be that of Mozart in a film airing this weekend on Austrian television as part of a year of celebratory events marking the composer's 250th birthday.

The tests were conducted last year by experts at the Institute for Forensic Medicine in the alpine city of Innsbruck, and the long-awaited results will be publicized in "Mozart: The Search for Evidence," to be screened Sunday by state broadcaster ORF.

Past tests were inconclusive, but this time, "we succeeded in getting a clear result," lead researcher Dr. Walther Parson, a renowned forensic pathologist, told ORF. He said the results were "100 percent verified" by a U.S. Army laboratory, but refused to elaborate.

The skull in question is one that for more than a century has been in the possession of the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, the elegant Austrian city where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on Jan. 27, 1756.

Parson said genetic material from scrapings from the skull was analyzed and compared to DNA samples gathered in 2004 from the thigh bones of Mozart's maternal grandmother and a niece. The bones were recovered when a Mozart family grave was opened in 2004 at Salzburg's Sebastian Cemetery.

Mozart died in 1791 and was buried in a pauper's grave at Vienna's St. Mark's Cemetery. The location of the grave was initially unknown, but its likely location was determined in 1855.

The grave on that spot is adorned by a column and a sad-looking angel.

Legend has it that a gravedigger who knew which body was Mozart's at some point sneaked the skull out of the grave. Through different channels, the skull -- which is missing its lower jaw -- came to the Mozarteum in Salzburg in 1902, according to Dr. Stephan Pauly, the foundation's director.

The foundation, a private nonprofit organization that works to preserve Mozart's legacy, was founded in 1880 by Salzburg residents and made the skull available for the DNA tests.

The skull long has fascinated experts: In 1991, a French scholar who examined it made the startling -- though unconfirmed -- conclusion that Mozart may have died of complications of a head injury rather than rheumatic fever as most historians believe.

Anthropologist Pierre-Francois Puech of the University of Provence based his belief on a fracture he found on the skull's left temple. Mozart, he theorized, may have sustained it in a fall, and that would help explain the severe headaches the composer was said to have suffered more than a year before his death.

Austria has designated 2006 a Mozart jubilee year, with dozens of events in Salzburg, Vienna and elsewhere to commemorate his 250 birthday.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

<i></i>


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: news from da lab
PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 6:42 am 
Offline
Lady Scryer
User avatar

Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2002 5:11 pm
Posts: 9653
Location: Michigan, USA
Forensics fail to solve Mozart mystery
Gravedigger suspected of stealing skull

Sunday, January 8, 2006; Posted: 7:14 p.m. EST (00:14 GMT)

Dr. Walther Parson holds the alleged skull of Mozart in this photo released by Austrian State Television ORF.

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- It's a Mozart mystery as haunting as his "Requiem" -- and apparently it won't be solved any time soon.

After months of sophisticated DNA sleuthing reminiscent of a "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" episode, forensics experts admitted Sunday on national television they still can't say with certainty whether an ancient skull belonged to the composer as some believe.

Past tests on the skull also were inconclusive, and a joint analysis conducted by the Institute for Forensic Medicine in Innsbruck and the U.S. Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville, Maryland, raised more questions than answers, lead researcher Dr. Walther Parson conceded.

"For the time being, the mystery of the skull is even bigger," Parson's team concluded in "Mozart: The Search for Evidence," a much-hyped documentary aired Sunday evening on Austrian state broadcaster ORF in the run-up to the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.

'Dead took their secrets to the grave'
Since 1902, the skull -- which is missing its lower jaw -- has been in the possession of the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, the elegant Austrian city where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756.

Parson, an internationally renowned forensic pathologist, said genetic material from two teeth removed from the skull was analyzed and compared with DNA samples gathered in 2004 from the thigh bones of two skeletons exhumed from the Mozart family grave at Salzburg's St. Sebastian Cemetery.

Experts had assumed the remains were of Mozart's maternal grandmother and a niece. But DNA analysis showed that none of the skeletons in the grave were related, making it impossible to prove that the skull was Mozart's, Parson said.

"The dead took their secrets to the grave," the documentary concluded.

Mozart died in 1791 at age 35 and was buried in a pauper's grave at Vienna's St. Mark's Cemetery. The location of the grave was initially unknown, but its likely location was determined in 1855.

Legend has it that Joseph Rothmayer, a gravedigger who knew which body was Mozart's, sneaked the skull out of the grave in 1801. Today, the spot is adorned by a column and a sad-looking angel.

Diagnosis 200 years later
The skull long has fascinated experts: In 1991, a French anthropologist who examined it made the startling -- though unconfirmed -- conclusion that Mozart may have died of complications of a head injury rather than rheumatic fever as most historians believe.

Pierre-Francois Puech of the University of Provence based his belief on a fracture on the left temple. Mozart, he theorized, may have sustained it in a fall, and that would help explain the severe headaches the composer was said to have suffered more than a year before his death.

This year's 250th anniversary has inspired a flurry of revelations about virtually every aspect of Mozart's brief but musically prolific life and the circumstances surrounding his death.

A researcher, Otto Biba, claims in a new book he has uncovered evidence suggesting the composer was far from poor, and that at the height of his career he earned the equivalent of $45,000 a year in today's terms.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i></i>


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 2 posts ] 

All times are UTC


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

cron
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group