Una asociación pide a Garzón que abra la fosa de Lorca y señala otra ubicación

La familia del maestro enterrado con el poeta solicita al juez que ordene excavar en el lugar señalado hace 30 años por Ian Gibson y en otro 430 metros más al sureste.

El juez de la Audiencia Nacional Baltasar Garzón tendrá que decidir si abre la fosa en la que supuestamente se encuentra enterrado Federico García Lorca. Nieves García, la nieta del maestro de Pulianas (Granada) Dióscoro Galindo, fusilado y enterrado junto al poeta, y la Asociación Granadina para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica, solicitaron ayer al juez que admita el proyecto de exhumación de Galindo y de uno de los dos banderilleros sepultados en el mismo lugar, Francisco Galadí, y ordene el levantamiento de los cadáveres. Los denunciantes presentaron, además, un informe que da una ubicación alternativa de la fosa en la que se les enterró tras su asesinato por los sublevados.

Las solicitudes de Nieves García y la asociación granadina se suman a las de otros nueve colectivos que solicitaron al juez Garzón desde 2006 que ordenara la reapertura de las fosas de desaparecidos desde el golpe de estado franquista, durante la Guerra Civil y en la dictadura que la siguió. El juez no ha admitido a trámite por el momento las denuncias pero, antes de tomar esa decisión, ha solicitado a la Conferencia Episcopal, al Gobierno, varios ayuntamientos y la universidad de Granada que le faciliten todos los datos sobre las víctimas para decidir si abre una causa por genocidio.

La petición de abrir la tumba de Lorca choca con la oposición de la familia del poeta que, en los últimos años, se ha negado a reabrir el enterramiento clandestino, a pesar de que las asociaciones de represaliados y algunos familiares lo han solicitado. «Exhumar los cadáveres de las personas identificadas ya, enterradas luego en fosas comunes y de las que se conocen las circunstancias de su muerte, podría llegar a falsear la historia», escribieron en una carta Vicenta, Concepción y Manuel Fernández-Montesinos, y Gloria, Isabel y Laura García-Lorca, sobrinos del dramaturgo cuando se suscitó por primera vez la cuestión en 2003.

La asociación y la nieta de Galindo pusieron además en duda, después de tres décadas de consenso, el lugar donde presuntamente se encuentra la fosa común en la que fueron enterrados. El presidente del colectivo, Francisco González Arroyo, facilitó a Garzón una ubicación alternativa a la descubierta por Ian Gibson en 1971, tras años de investigaciones. El hispanista sitúa la fosa junto al camino que une Alfacar y Víznar, al lado de un olivo cercano a la Fuente de Aynadamar, el lugar donde todos coinciden que fueron acribillados. En homenaje al poeta y a sus compañeros de suplicio, allí se construyó el parque Federico García Lorca, en el que un monolito recuerda el lugar exacto donde se perpetraron los asesinatos.

González Arroyo, en nombre de su asociación, y la nieta de Dióscoro Galindo solicitaron ayer al juez que permita las excavaciones pero no sólo en el lugar señalado por Gibson, sino también unos 430 metros al sureste de ese punto, en un paraje del mismo municipio de Alfacar llamado El Caracolar. El presidente de la asociación aportó en el juzgado un informe en el que se explica esa segunda hipótesis sobre el lugar de la fosa. El documento se basa en el testimonio de Valentín Huete García, cocinero que vivió en el recinto del viejo caserón de Las Colonias -reconvertido durante la Guerra Civil en centro de tortura de los sublevados-, donde Lorca, Galadí, Galindo y el también banderillero Juan Arcollas pasaron sus últimas horas. Huete, según González Arroyo, vivía allí desde antes del golpe de Estado franquista, lo que lo convirtió «en observador obligatorio de todos los asesinatos cometidos por las fuerzas sublevadas al mando del capitán José María Nestares».

El testimonio de Huete, según el informe, coincide con los de otros vecinos de Víznar (Granada), localidad vecina a Alfacar, y con la del «acequiero de Aynadamar» que, según el informe entregado ayer al juez, señaló a González Arroyo «la piedra bajo la cual afirma que están los restos de los cuatro asesinados el 18 de agosto de 1936», el mismo lugar que señaló el cocinero.

Ian Gibson, sin embargo, sitúa la fosa cerca de medio kilómetro al norte. Hasta allí lo llevó Manuel Castilla, que, en 1966, relató al hispanista cómo fue obligado a enterrar los cuerpos tras el asesinato cuando sólo tenía 18 años, y le dijo el lugar donde cavó la fosa «paso más paso menos». El hispanista confirmó su teoría hace unos años, cuando se publicaron los trabajos del investigador español nacionalizado estadounidense Agustín Penón, fallecido en 1976. El enterrador de Lorca también condujo a Penón hasta aquel lugar.

Descargar


Granada Hoy

Pág. 14: Un nuevo sistema informático agilizará la identificación por ADN
Pág. 15: Científicos de la UGR estudian técnicas para hacer invisibles ciertos objetos|1.400 alumnos recibirán el complemento de beca Erasmus
Descargar


La Opinión

Pág. 6: La UGR tendrá que rebajar la altura del ascensor de la Casa de Porras
Pág. 15: Más de 1.400 alumnos recibirán un incremento en las becas Erasmus
Pág. 17: Encuentro de rotarios|A los familiares del franquismo|Un \’gurú\’ de la tecnología en el PTS
Pág. 23 – Publicidad: Cursos de veranos Centro Mediterráneo 2008
Pág. 54: Científicos de la UGR logran hacer invisibles algunos objetos
Pág. 57: El Universo, ese gran desconocido
Descargar


20 Minutos

Pág. 2: 350 euros más para las becas Erasmus|La UGR logra hacer invisibles objetos
Descargar


DNA scientist who identified 9/11 victims works with UNT on Chilean cases

For Rhonda Roby, Sept. 11 doesn\’t just come around once a year. It\’s a constant reminder that her work is to help families struck by tragedy find peace.

Dr. Roby, one of the nation\’s top DNA scientists, led the team that identified victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on 9/11.

Now she\’s working at the University of North Texas\’ Center for Human Identification on another project with a Sept. 11 tie.

Last month, Dr. Roby and her UNT colleagues received a contract to investigate one of the most infamous crimes of the last half-century: the disappearance and deaths of thousands of people in Chile, including several Americans, shortly after a military coup on Sept. 11, 1973.

Based in Fort Worth, the UNT center was created after the state Legislature mandated a DNA missing persons\’ database in 2001. Since then, it has become the country\’s primary program for identifying missing people.

While the bulk of the work done by the UNT center is in Texas, its reputation extends well beyond the state\’s borders, leading to contracts such as the one with Chile.

«They determined that we had the best shot at getting the answers that these families have waited for – in some cases up to 30 years,» said Art Eisenberg, director of UNT\’s Center for Human Identification.

Dr. Roby is no stranger to high-profile cases. In the mid-1990s, she led a team that identified the remains of Russia\’s Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. She conducted DNA analysis to identify Branch Davidians who died in the 1993 fire near Waco.

But Dr. Roby prefers to focus on her dealings with ordinary families. She recalled one such meeting, which took place after she first arrived in Chile for a preliminary audit of the former dictatorship\’s victims two years ago.

While supervising the excavation of a mass grave, Dr. Roby walked by a family member of a desaparecido (missing person), who stood watching the exhumation.

«Thank you for helping,» the man said.

«It\’s nothing,» Dr. Roby said, in Spanish.

After a few more steps, she stopped and walked back to the man.

«I want to thank you very much for talking to me,» she said, «and I\’m going to do everything I can do to help identify these remains.»

At that moment, Dr. Roby said, the meaning of her work crystallized for her. Why she put in the hours she did. Why she became immersed in lives ravaged by tragic events and violent death. And why she decided to learn Spanish in her 40s.

«For every set of remains, there\’s a family behind it,» she says. Meeting with families «reminds me why I work the hours that I do and why this work is so important.»

Early interest

Rhonda Roby, 45, grew up in Oklahoma, where her parents still live.

As a teen in the late 1970s, she began following a famous case involving three girls who had been raped and murdered at a Girl Scout camp east of Tulsa.

«I was a Girl Scout at the time, and I got very interested,» she said.

She called the forensic scientist working on the case, Ann Reed, and arranged for the scientist to visit her school. After that, Dr. Roby said, she began telling everyone that she wanted to be a forensic scientist when she grew up.

She went on to earn a master of public health in forensic, behavioral and environmental health sciences at the University of California at Berkley in 1989.

As she started her career, DNA was just beginning to revolutionize forensic science.

In 1991, Dr. Roby began working for the Department of Defense on a new project using mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify the remains of service members, many of whom had been listed as missing in action since the Korean War or Vietnam War.

She still remembers her first case, Navy pilot John Frederick Barr, and how grateful the family was to get a confirmed identification of the officer\’s remains.

«I think that mission for identifying soldiers is extremely important,» she says. «That\’s something I\’m very proud of.»

After 9/11, Dr. Roby moved to New York to help the medical examiner\’s office identify remains. She was asked to lead a team of scientists in processing DNA samples. Overall, the team tested 21,000 specimens. «It was the world\’s largest forensic case ever,» she said.

Dr. Roby spent three years on the project and worked incredibly long hours.

«As forensic scientists, we are intensely focused on getting this work done and doing it right. But when I\’m away from the lab and I think about what I\’m doing, I get emotional. I think about how I\’m really working for the families,» she said.

«Some said, \’I don\’t need you to tell me this is my son. I know he\’s dead.\’ Others said they really wanted something to bury.»

Able to communicate

Many families she met were related to Spanish-speaking workers at Windows on the World, the large restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower.

Frustrated by her inability to talk to them, Dr. Roby decided to learn Spanish. In 2004, she moved to Spain to work on her doctorate at the University of Granada.

In 2006, she was contacted by the Chilean government, which wanted to reinvestigate the killings that took place after a 1973 military coup that brought about the repressive dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, a Chilean general.

After 17 years of military rule ended in 1990, efforts were made to identify the estimated 3,000 people who died during the Pinochet dictatorship. But the identifications weren\’t done by forensic scientists, and many proved to be inaccurate.

In 2006, the country\’s new president, a torture victim under the Pinochet regime, decided to reopen the process. Dr. Roby was brought in to oversee an audit of previous cases. Dr. Roby\’s group recommended making another effort to identify all the victims.

Dr. Roby proposed several labs in the United States and Europe. The Chilean government chose the UNT Center for Human Identification.

The $1.3 million contract was signed on Aug. 8, Dr. Eisenberg said, and the center has already begun the job.

Meanwhile, Dr. Roby is scheduled to receive her doctorate today, the seventh anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the 35th anniversary of the violent military coup in Chile.

Her boss, Dr. Eisenberg, says he hopes to offer her a faculty position so she can pass on her skills and compassion to UNT students.

«What she brings to the table mentally, physically and more importantly what\’s in her heart, you can\’t put a price tag on it,» he said.
Descargar


DNA scientist who identified 9/11 victims works with UNT on Chilean cases

For Rhonda Roby, Sept. 11 doesn\’t just come around once a year. It\’s a constant reminder that her work is to help families struck by tragedy find peace.

Dr. Roby, one of the nation\’s top DNA scientists, led the team that identified victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on 9/11.

Now she\’s working at the University of North Texas\’ Center for Human Identification on another project with a Sept. 11 tie.

Last month, Dr. Roby and her UNT colleagues received a contract to investigate one of the most infamous crimes of the last half-century: the disappearance and deaths of thousands of people in Chile, including several Americans, shortly after a military coup on Sept. 11, 1973.

Based in Fort Worth, the UNT center was created after the state Legislature mandated a DNA missing persons\’ database in 2001. Since then, it has become the country\’s primary program for identifying missing people.

While the bulk of the work done by the UNT center is in Texas, its reputation extends well beyond the state\’s borders, leading to contracts such as the one with Chile.

«They determined that we had the best shot at getting the answers that these families have waited for – in some cases up to 30 years,» said Art Eisenberg, director of UNT\’s Center for Human Identification.

Dr. Roby is no stranger to high-profile cases. In the mid-1990s, she led a team that identified the remains of Russia\’s Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. She conducted DNA analysis to identify Branch Davidians who died in the 1993 fire near Waco.

But Dr. Roby prefers to focus on her dealings with ordinary families. She recalled one such meeting, which took place after she first arrived in Chile for a preliminary audit of the former dictatorship\’s victims two years ago.

While supervising the excavation of a mass grave, Dr. Roby walked by a family member of a desaparecido (missing person), who stood watching the exhumation.

«Thank you for helping,» the man said.

«It\’s nothing,» Dr. Roby said, in Spanish.

After a few more steps, she stopped and walked back to the man.

«I want to thank you very much for talking to me,» she said, «and I\’m going to do everything I can do to help identify these remains.»

At that moment, Dr. Roby said, the meaning of her work crystallized for her. Why she put in the hours she did. Why she became immersed in lives ravaged by tragic events and violent death. And why she decided to learn Spanish in her 40s.

«For every set of remains, there\’s a family behind it,» she says. Meeting with families «reminds me why I work the hours that I do and why this work is so important.»

Early interest

Rhonda Roby, 45, grew up in Oklahoma, where her parents still live.

As a teen in the late 1970s, she began following a famous case involving three girls who had been raped and murdered at a Girl Scout camp east of Tulsa.

«I was a Girl Scout at the time, and I got very interested,» she said.

She called the forensic scientist working on the case, Ann Reed, and arranged for the scientist to visit her school. After that, Dr. Roby said, she began telling everyone that she wanted to be a forensic scientist when she grew up.

She went on to earn a master of public health in forensic, behavioral and environmental health sciences at the University of California at Berkley in 1989.

As she started her career, DNA was just beginning to revolutionize forensic science.

In 1991, Dr. Roby began working for the Department of Defense on a new project using mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify the remains of service members, many of whom had been listed as missing in action since the Korean War or Vietnam War.

She still remembers her first case, Navy pilot John Frederick Barr, and how grateful the family was to get a confirmed identification of the officer\’s remains.

«I think that mission for identifying soldiers is extremely important,» she says. «That\’s something I\’m very proud of.»

After 9/11, Dr. Roby moved to New York to help the medical examiner\’s office identify remains. She was asked to lead a team of scientists in processing DNA samples. Overall, the team tested 21,000 specimens. «It was the world\’s largest forensic case ever,» she said.

Dr. Roby spent three years on the project and worked incredibly long hours.

«As forensic scientists, we are intensely focused on getting this work done and doing it right. But when I\’m away from the lab and I think about what I\’m doing, I get emotional. I think about how I\’m really working for the families,» she said.

«Some said, \’I don\’t need you to tell me this is my son. I know he\’s dead.\’ Others said they really wanted something to bury.»

Able to communicate

Many families she met were related to Spanish-speaking workers at Windows on the World, the large restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower.

Frustrated by her inability to talk to them, Dr. Roby decided to learn Spanish. In 2004, she moved to Spain to work on her doctorate at the University of Granada.

In 2006, she was contacted by the Chilean government, which wanted to reinvestigate the killings that took place after a 1973 military coup that brought about the repressive dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, a Chilean general.

After 17 years of military rule ended in 1990, efforts were made to identify the estimated 3,000 people who died during the Pinochet dictatorship. But the identifications weren\’t done by forensic scientists, and many proved to be inaccurate.

In 2006, the country\’s new president, a torture victim under the Pinochet regime, decided to reopen the process. Dr. Roby was brought in to oversee an audit of previous cases. Dr. Roby\’s group recommended making another effort to identify all the victims.

Dr. Roby proposed several labs in the United States and Europe. The Chilean government chose the UNT Center for Human Identification.

The $1.3 million contract was signed on Aug. 8, Dr. Eisenberg said, and the center has already begun the job.

Meanwhile, Dr. Roby is scheduled to receive her doctorate today, the seventh anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the 35th anniversary of the violent military coup in Chile.

Her boss, Dr. Eisenberg, says he hopes to offer her a faculty position so she can pass on her skills and compassion to UNT students.

«What she brings to the table mentally, physically and more importantly what\’s in her heart, you can\’t put a price tag on it,» he said.
Descargar


DNA scientist who identified 9/11 victims works with UNT on Chilean cases

For Rhonda Roby, Sept. 11 doesn\’t just come around once a year. It\’s a constant reminder that her work is to help families struck by tragedy find peace.

Dr. Roby, one of the nation\’s top DNA scientists, led the team that identified victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on 9/11.

Now she\’s working at the University of North Texas\’ Center for Human Identification on another project with a Sept. 11 tie.

Last month, Dr. Roby and her UNT colleagues received a contract to investigate one of the most infamous crimes of the last half-century: the disappearance and deaths of thousands of people in Chile, including several Americans, shortly after a military coup on Sept. 11, 1973.

Based in Fort Worth, the UNT center was created after the state Legislature mandated a DNA missing persons\’ database in 2001. Since then, it has become the country\’s primary program for identifying missing people.

While the bulk of the work done by the UNT center is in Texas, its reputation extends well beyond the state\’s borders, leading to contracts such as the one with Chile.

«They determined that we had the best shot at getting the answers that these families have waited for – in some cases up to 30 years,» said Art Eisenberg, director of UNT\’s Center for Human Identification.

Dr. Roby is no stranger to high-profile cases. In the mid-1990s, she led a team that identified the remains of Russia\’s Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. She conducted DNA analysis to identify Branch Davidians who died in the 1993 fire near Waco.

But Dr. Roby prefers to focus on her dealings with ordinary families. She recalled one such meeting, which took place after she first arrived in Chile for a preliminary audit of the former dictatorship\’s victims two years ago.

While supervising the excavation of a mass grave, Dr. Roby walked by a family member of a desaparecido (missing person), who stood watching the exhumation.

«Thank you for helping,» the man said.

«It\’s nothing,» Dr. Roby said, in Spanish.

After a few more steps, she stopped and walked back to the man.

«I want to thank you very much for talking to me,» she said, «and I\’m going to do everything I can do to help identify these remains.»

At that moment, Dr. Roby said, the meaning of her work crystallized for her. Why she put in the hours she did. Why she became immersed in lives ravaged by tragic events and violent death. And why she decided to learn Spanish in her 40s.

«For every set of remains, there\’s a family behind it,» she says. Meeting with families «reminds me why I work the hours that I do and why this work is so important.»

Early interest

Rhonda Roby, 45, grew up in Oklahoma, where her parents still live.

As a teen in the late 1970s, she began following a famous case involving three girls who had been raped and murdered at a Girl Scout camp east of Tulsa.

«I was a Girl Scout at the time, and I got very interested,» she said.

She called the forensic scientist working on the case, Ann Reed, and arranged for the scientist to visit her school. After that, Dr. Roby said, she began telling everyone that she wanted to be a forensic scientist when she grew up.

She went on to earn a master of public health in forensic, behavioral and environmental health sciences at the University of California at Berkley in 1989.

As she started her career, DNA was just beginning to revolutionize forensic science.

In 1991, Dr. Roby began working for the Department of Defense on a new project using mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify the remains of service members, many of whom had been listed as missing in action since the Korean War or Vietnam War.

She still remembers her first case, Navy pilot John Frederick Barr, and how grateful the family was to get a confirmed identification of the officer\’s remains.

«I think that mission for identifying soldiers is extremely important,» she says. «That\’s something I\’m very proud of.»

After 9/11, Dr. Roby moved to New York to help the medical examiner\’s office identify remains. She was asked to lead a team of scientists in processing DNA samples. Overall, the team tested 21,000 specimens. «It was the world\’s largest forensic case ever,» she said.

Dr. Roby spent three years on the project and worked incredibly long hours.

«As forensic scientists, we are intensely focused on getting this work done and doing it right. But when I\’m away from the lab and I think about what I\’m doing, I get emotional. I think about how I\’m really working for the families,» she said.

«Some said, \’I don\’t need you to tell me this is my son. I know he\’s dead.\’ Others said they really wanted something to bury.»

Able to communicate

Many families she met were related to Spanish-speaking workers at Windows on the World, the large restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower.

Frustrated by her inability to talk to them, Dr. Roby decided to learn Spanish. In 2004, she moved to Spain to work on her doctorate at the University of Granada.

In 2006, she was contacted by the Chilean government, which wanted to reinvestigate the killings that took place after a 1973 military coup that brought about the repressive dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, a Chilean general.

After 17 years of military rule ended in 1990, efforts were made to identify the estimated 3,000 people who died during the Pinochet dictatorship. But the identifications weren\’t done by forensic scientists, and many proved to be inaccurate.

In 2006, the country\’s new president, a torture victim under the Pinochet regime, decided to reopen the process. Dr. Roby was brought in to oversee an audit of previous cases. Dr. Roby\’s group recommended making another effort to identify all the victims.

Dr. Roby proposed several labs in the United States and Europe. The Chilean government chose the UNT Center for Human Identification.

The $1.3 million contract was signed on Aug. 8, Dr. Eisenberg said, and the center has already begun the job.

Meanwhile, Dr. Roby is scheduled to receive her doctorate today, the seventh anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the 35th anniversary of the violent military coup in Chile.

Her boss, Dr. Eisenberg, says he hopes to offer her a faculty position so she can pass on her skills and compassion to UNT students.

«What she brings to the table mentally, physically and more importantly what\’s in her heart, you can\’t put a price tag on it,» he said.
Descargar


Assembling peace

For Rhonda Roby, Sept. 11 doesn’t just come around once a year. It’s a constant reminder that her work is to help families struck by tragedy find peace.

Roby, one of the nation’s top DNA scientists, led the team that identified victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

Now she’s working at the University of North Texas’ Center for Human Id­entification on another project with a Sept. 11 tie.

Last month, Roby and her UNT colleagues received a contract to investigate one of the most infamous crimes of the last half-century: the disappearance and deaths of thousands of people in Chile, including several Americans, shortly after a military coup on Sept. 11, 1973.

Based in Fort Worth, the UNT center was created after the state Legislature mandated a DNA missing persons’ database in 2001. Since then, it has quietly become the country’s primary program for identifying missing persons.

While the bulk of the work done by the UNT center is in Texas, its reputation extends well beyond the state’s borders, leading to contracts such as the one with Chile.

“They determined that we had the best shot at getting the answers that these families have waited for — in some cases up to 30 years,” said Art Eisenberg, the director of UNT’s Center for Human Identification.

Roby is no stranger to high-profile cases. In the mid-1990s, she led a team that identified the remains of Russia’s Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. She conducted DNA analysis to identify Branch Davidians who perished in the 1993 fire in Waco.

But Roby prefers to focus on her dealings with ordinary families. She recalled one such meeting, which took place after she first arrived in Chile for a preliminary audit of the former dictatorship’s victims two years ago.

While supervising the excavation of a mass grave, Roby walked by a family member of a desaparecido (missing person), who stood watching the exhumation.

“Thank you for helping,” the man said.

“It’s nothing,” Roby said, in Spanish.

After a few more steps, she stopped and walked back to the man.

“I want to thank you very much for talking to me,” she said, “and I’m going to do everything I can do to help identify these remains.”

At that moment, Roby said, the meaning of her work crystallized for her. Why she put in the hours she did. Why she became immersed in lives ravaged by tragic events and violent death. And why she decided to learn Spanish in her 40s.

“For every set of remains, there’s a family behind it,” she says. Meeting with families “reminds me why I work the hours that I do and why this work is so important.”

First cases

Roby, 45, grew up in Oklahoma, where her parents still live.

As a teen in the late 1970s, she began following a famous case involving three girls who had been raped and murdered at a Girl Scout camp east of Tulsa.

“I was a Girl Scout at the time, and I got very interested,” she said.

She called the forensic scientist working on the case, Ann Reed, and arranged for the scientist to visit her school. After that, Roby said, she began telling everyone that she wanted to be a forensic scientist when she grew up.

She went on to earn a master’s of public health in forensic, behavioral and environmental health sciences at the University of California at Berkley in 1989.

As she started her career, DNA was just beginning to revolutionize forensic science.

In 1991, Roby began working for the Department of Defense on a new project using mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify the remains of service members, many of whom had been listed as missing in action since the Korean War or Vietnam War.

She still remembers her first case, Navy pilot John Frederick Barr, and how grateful the family was to get a confirmed identification of the officer’s remains.

“I think that mission for identifying soldiers is extremely important,” she says. “That’s something I’m very proud of.”

Important discoveries

When relations between Russia and the United States thawed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Roby headed up a team that used DNA analysis to identify the remains of Czar Nicholas II and his family.

She was called in to help with identification after several airplane crashes, including one in which Commerce Secretary Ron Brown was killed.

After Sept. 11, Roby moved to New York to help the medical examiner’s office identify remains. She was asked to lead a team of scientists in processing DNA samples.

Overall, the team tested 21,000 specimens. “It was the world’s largest forensic case ever,” she said.

Roby spent three years on the project and worked incredibly long hours.

“As forensic scientists, we are intensely focused on getting this work done and doing it right. But when I’m away from the lab and I think about what I’m doing, I get emotional. I think about how I’m really working for the families,” she said.

“Some said, ‘I don’t need you to tell me this is my son. I know he’s dead.’ Others said they really wanted something to bury.”

Broadening opportunities

Many families she met were related to Spanish-speaking workers at Windows on the World, the large restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower.

Frustrated by her inability to talk to them, Roby decided to learn Spanish. In 2004, she moved to Spain to work on her doctorate at the University of Granada.

In 2006, she was contacted by the Chilean government, which wanted to reinvestigate the mass killings that took place after a 1973 military coup that brought about the repressive dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, a Chilean general.

After 17 years of military rule ended in 1990, efforts were made to identify the estimated 3,000 people who died or disappeared during the Pinochet dictatorship. But the identifications weren’t done by forensic scientists and many proved to be inaccurate.

In 2006, the country’s new president, herself a torture victim under the Pinochet regime, decided to reopen the process. Roby was brought in to oversee an audit of previous cases. Roby’s group recommended making another effort to identify all victims using new DNA processing techniques developed after Sept. 11.

Roby proposed several labs in the United States and Europe. The Chilean government chose the UNT Center for Human Identification.

The $1.3 million contract was signed on Aug. 8, Eisenberg said, and the center has already begun the job.

Meanwhile, Roby is scheduled to receive her doctorate today, the seventh anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the 35th anniversary of the violent military coup in Chile.

Her boss, Eisenberg, says he hopes to offer her a faculty position so she can pass on her skills and compassion to UNT students.

“What she brings to the table mentally, physically and more importantly what’s in her heart, you can’t put a price tag on it,” he said.
Descargar


Scientist who identified 9/11 victims helps UNT on Chile case

For Rhonda Roby, Sept. 11 doesn\’t just come around once a year. It\’s a constant reminder that her work is to help families struck by tragedy find peace.

Dr. Roby, one of the nation\’s top DNA scientists, led the team that identified victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on 9/11.

Now she\’s working at the University of North Texas\’ Center for Human Identification on another project with a Sept. 11 tie.

Last month, Dr. Roby and her UNT colleagues received a contract to investigate one of the most infamous crimes of the last half-century: the disappearance and deaths of thousands of people in Chile, including several Americans, shortly after a military coup on Sept. 11, 1973.

Based in Fort Worth, the UNT center was created after the state Legislature mandated a DNA missing persons\’ database in 2001. Since then, it has become the country\’s primary program for identifying missing people.

While the bulk of the work done by the UNT center is in Texas, its reputation extends well beyond the state\’s borders, leading to contracts such as the one with Chile.

«They determined that we had the best shot at getting the answers that these families have waited for – in some cases up to 30 years,» said Art Eisenberg, director of UNT\’s Center for Human Identification.

Dr. Roby is no stranger to high-profile cases. In the mid-1990s, she led a team that identified the remains of Russia\’s Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. She conducted DNA analysis to identify Branch Davidians who died in the 1993 fire near Waco.

But Dr. Roby prefers to focus on her dealings with ordinary families. She recalled one such meeting, which took place after she first arrived in Chile for a preliminary audit of the former dictatorship\’s victims two years ago.

While supervising the excavation of a mass grave, Dr. Roby walked by a family member of a desaparicido (missing person), who stood watching the exhumation.

«Thank you for helping,» the man said.

«It\’s nothing,» Dr. Roby said, in Spanish.

After a few more steps, she stopped and walked back to the man.

«I want to thank you very much for talking to me,» she said, «and I\’m going to do everything I can do to help identify these remains.»

At that moment, Dr. Roby said, the meaning of her work crystallized for her. Why she put in the hours she did. Why she became immersed in lives ravaged by tragic events and violent death. And why she decided to learn Spanish in her 40s.

«For every set of remains, there\’s a family behind it,» she says. Meeting with families «reminds me why I work the hours that I do and why this work is so important.»

Early interest

Rhonda Roby, 45, grew up in Oklahoma, where her parents still live.

As a teen in the late 1970s, she began following a famous case involving three girls who had been raped and murdered at a Girl Scout camp east of Tulsa.

«I was a Girl Scout at the time, and I got very interested,» she said.

She called the forensic scientist working on the case, Ann Reed, and arranged for the scientist to visit her school. After that, Dr. Roby said, she began telling everyone that she wanted to be a forensic scientist when she grew up.

She went on to earn a master of public health in forensic, behavioral and environmental health sciences at the University of California at Berkley in 1989.

As she started her career, DNA was just beginning to revolutionize forensic science.

In 1991, Dr. Roby began working for the Department of Defense on a new project using mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify the remains of service members, many of whom had been listed as missing in action since the Korean War or Vietnam War.

She still remembers her first case, Navy pilot John Frederick Barr, and how grateful the family was to get a confirmed identification of the officer\’s remains.

«I think that mission for identifying soldiers is extremely important,» she says. «That\’s something I\’m very proud of.»

After 9/11, Dr. Roby moved to New York to help the medical examiner\’s office identify remains. She was asked to lead a team of scientists in processing DNA samples. Overall, the team tested 21,000 specimens. «It was the world\’s largest forensic case ever,» she said.

Dr. Roby spent three years on the project and worked incredibly long hours.

«As forensic scientists, we are intensely focused on getting this work done and doing it right. But when I\’m away from the lab and I think about what I\’m doing, I get emotional. I think about how I\’m really working for the families,» she said.

«Some said, \’I don\’t need you to tell me this is my son. I know he\’s dead.\’ Others said they really wanted something to bury.»

Able to communicate

Many families she met were related to Spanish-speaking workers at Windows on the World, the large restaurant on the top floor of the North Tower.

Frustrated by her inability to talk to them, Dr. Roby decided to learn Spanish. In 2004, she moved to Spain to work on her doctorate at the University of Granada.

In 2006, she was contacted by the Chilean government, which wanted to reinvestigate the killings that took place after a 1973 military coup that brought about the repressive dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, a Chilean general.

After 17 years of military rule ended in 1990, efforts were made to identify the estimated 3,000 people who died during the Pinochet dictatorship. But the identifications weren\’t done by forensic scientists, and many proved to be inaccurate.

In 2006, the country\’s new president, a torture victim under the Pinochet regime, decided to reopen the process. Dr. Roby was brought in to oversee an audit of previous cases. Dr. Roby\’s group recommended making another effort to identify all the victims.

Dr. Roby proposed several labs in the United States and Europe. The Chilean government chose the UNT Center for Human Identification.

The $1.3 million contract was signed on Aug. 8, Dr. Eisenberg said, and the center has already begun the job.

Meanwhile, Dr. Roby is scheduled to receive her doctorate today, the seventh anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the 35th anniversary of the violent military coup in Chile.

Her boss, Dr. Eisenberg, says he hopes to offer her a faculty position so she can pass on her skills and compassion to UNT students.

«What she brings to the table mentally, physically and more importantly what\’s in her heart, you can\’t put a price tag on it,» he said.
Descargar


Científicos de la UGR desarrollan una técnica para volver invisibles los objetos

Un grupo de científicos de la Universidad de Granada (UGR) han desarrollado, en colaboración con investigadores del Instituto Tecnológico de Massachussets, una nueva técnica que permitirá volver invisibles al ojo humano y a los radares determinados objetos. Esta tecnología se basa en un sistema de capas simulado con el método de Modelado por Líneas de Transmisión (TLM) que logra ocultar, para algunas frecuencias, los objetos introducidos en un simulador electromagnético, ha informado la UGR en una nota.

Los científicos han explicado que el interés por la invisibilidad electromagnética se ha visto impulsado en los últimos tiempos, en parte por la existencia de poderosos recursos informáticos que permiten realizar estudios numéricos específicos de este fenómeno.

Este estudio constituye el germen para lograr la invisibilidad ante radares o incluso ante el ojo humano, y fue publicado recientemente en la revista científica internacional «Optics Express».

El grupo responsable de esta investigación está formado por miembros del los departamentos de Física Aplicada y de Electromagnetismo y Física de la Materia de la Universidad de Granada, dirigidos por los doctores Jorge Andrés Portí, Alfonso Salinas y Juan Antonio Morente.
Descargar


Investigadores granadinos desarrollan una técnica que vuelve invisibles algunos objetos

* Para ello han utilizado una técnica numérica conocida como método de Modelado por Líneas de Transmisión.
* Estos estudios constituyen el germen para lograr la invisibilidad ante radares o incluso ante el ojo humano.
* Científicos estadounidenses han colaborado en la investigación.

Un grupo de investigadores de la Universidad de Granada , dirigidos por los doctores Jorge Andrés Portí, Alfonso Salinas y Juan Antonio Morente, ha dado un paso adelante en relación a uno de los grandes sueños y retos de la humanidad: la invisibilidad.

Los científicos de la UGR han logrado, a través de una técnica numérica (conocida como método de Modelado por Líneas de Transmisión), ocultar un objeto o hacerlo invisible en una determinada franja de frecuencias, dentro de un simulador electromagnético.

Estos estudios constituyen el germen para lograr la invisibilidad ante radares o incluso ante el ojo humano.

Este importante trabajo científico ha sido realizado en colaboración con investigadores del Instituto Tecnológico de Massachusetts y forma parte de la tesis doctoral realizada por Cedric Blanchard, otro investigador de la UGR que actualmente está completando su formación en Estados Unidos.

El poder de la informática

Como explican los científicos de la Universidad de Granada, el creciente interés por la invisibilidad electromagnética se ha visto impulsado en los últimos tiempos, en parte, por la existencia de poderosos recursos informáticos que permiten realizar estudios numéricos específicos de tal fenómeno.

Dicha investigación ha logrado hacer invisibles objetos en condiciones no fácilmente alcanzables cuando se utiliza un software comercial.
Descargar