Thursday, February 01, 2007

PRINCETON TOWNSHIP — Princeton Day School welcomed Dr. Michael Baden, host of the HBO series “Autopsy” and chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police, to McAneny Theater for the 2007 Pioneer in Science Lecture Jan. 24.

The Pioneer in Science Lecture is an annual program that brings an outstanding scientist to Princeton Day School to educate and in spire students. The program was established in 2004 by Princeton Day School parents.

Baden followed his lecture to the entire Upper School by talking with science students about the roles physics, chemistry and biology play in his work. Thanks to scientific advances, he said, a single hair yields more information today than an autopsy revealed a few years ago.

Baden talked about the history of forensic pathology, explaining that “forensic” — meaning “speaking” in public speaking — reflects the announcement of Caesar’s murder in 44 BC and that “coroner” is actually a corrupted version of the name given knights who confiscated property of suicide victims for King Richard the Lion-Hearted. 

While New Jersey requires a “medical examiner” with specific expertise to determine cause of death, many jurisdictions have a “coroner,” someone who is elected and need not have medical or forensic science training, Baden said. He added that there are only 400 forensic pathologists in the United States.

From the “Harvard Murder” of the 1840s to the grisly “Jack the Ripper” murders in London, Baden detailed how photography — which documents a crime scene — and toxicology have improved forensic science.

“You already know more about the genetic code than anybody did 20 years ago,” Baden said. “… This is an exciting time.”

Baden served as chairman of the Forensic Pathology Panel of the U.S. Congress Select Commit tee on Assassinations that re-investigated the deaths of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was the forensic pathologist member of a team of U.S. forensic scientists asked by the Russian government to examine the newly found remains of Tsar Nicholas II, Alexandra and the Romanov family in Siberia in the 1990s.

Baden has been an expert witness for prosecutors or defense at torneys in cases involving Medgar Evers, John Belushi, Yankee Manager Billy Martin, Marlon Brando’s son Christian, O.J. Simpson, Jay son Williams, Kobe Bryant, Robert Blake, Phil Spector and Las Vegas hotel owner Ted Binion.