LYNN, SCIENTIST STUDIED SHROUD.

Byline: Usha Sutliff Staff Writer

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE - Don Lynn, a former JPL scientist who played a key role in an international team that investigated the controversial Shroud of Turin,

died Saturday. He was 68.

``He lived a full life, and he was a great guy. We're going to miss him, but we know he's in a better place,'' said his son, Tim, before his father's memorial service Tuesday.

Lynn died at Granada Hills Community Hospital following a cerebral hemorrhage. He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Patricia, and five children: Tim, 42; Michael, 40; Elizabeth, 37; Patrick, 36; and Jennifer, 31.

Armed with a bachelor's of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois and a master's in nuclear engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, Don Lynn worked at the Douglas Aircraft Co. and elsewhere before becoming supervisor of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Space Image Processing Group.

Under his direction, the group processed images sent back from spacecraft including Mariner 10, which was launched in 1973 and did flybys of Mercury and Venus, and the Viking orbiters and landers, which were launched in 1975.

In the late 1970s, Lynn became deputy manager of the Flight Science Office of the Voyager Project, a mission designed to explore the outer planets.

It was during this time that Lynn, a Catholic, also joined an international team of scientists in an effort to understand the Shroud of Turin, an old linen cloth of herringbone weave thought by many to have the image of the face and body of Jesus Christ imprinted on it.

The shroud has been causing controversy ever since it turned up in medieval France, a 14-foot length of linen bearing the anatomically correct image of a man who was crucified with nails driven through his wrists and feet. Skeptics have long challenged the shroud's history.

Lynn and a colleague from JPL, Jean Lorre, got involved in the project in 1977, when they agreed to subject pictures of the shroud to image enhancement through the techniques used at JPL on the Viking photographs from Mars.

Their results were published in newspapers around the world and sparked a flurry of interest in what may be the last holy relic to challenge the limits of modern science. They also traveled to Turin, Italy, as part of the team, to subject the shroud to further tests.

Timothy Lynn said his father, a ``man of faith,'' recently made a documentary for the History Channel about their findings.

``He would never make up someone's mind for them. He would present them with the evidence and (let them) judge for themselves,'' the son said.

His father continued to work as a consultant for JPL and other companies after his retirement in the early 1980s, his son said, and spent the rest of his time traveling with his wife. The couple also enjoyed exploring the California vineyards as they journeyed up and down the coast visiting their children.