The Voynich Ninja

Of course Lisa is right.
Let's assume you find a match. What now?
How far have you got with your family research?
You have a result, but now you have to trace it back. Most people fail at the 18th century.
Task:
Take your neighbour and trace his family back to 1400.
Then I'll talk to you and invite you to the Landesmuseum.ch archive. You can open as many boxes as you like.

I remain optimistic.

I think the key thing is to identify a site/location/place in the manuscript where the author or scribe's DNA is highly likely to be found and where other later DNA is unlikely to be found. I suggested under the ink as later DNA would not be present there, however there may be better locations. Of course, such a sample wouldn't be approved unless taking the sample does no damage to the manuscript.

I am reminded of a conversation that I had with a bus driver over a decade ago. I was somewhat annoyed that he expected me to have exact change(coins/cash) for the bus. I said to him "One day you will take (debit or credit) cards". He was adamant "it will never happen mate". I got annoyed, as I have a tendency to, that he dismissed my point so readily. Of course, now buses here take cards. I predict that in the not too distant future they will cease to take cash and only take cards.

I have had other similar experiences before. I find that some people have a tendency with technologies to say something "will never happen" until it happens and then when something has happened a similar group of people will say that "it is obvious that it inevitably was going to happen".

I will keep an eye on how this technology develops such as in the case of Da Vinci example I linked to.

(25-01-2026, 05:32 PM)LisaFaginDavis Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.a name? I doubt it.

Well, the name may be in the manuscript itself.  Like on page f1r, or any of the other text-only pages.

All the best, --stolfi

(25-01-2026, 08:00 PM)Jorge_Stolfi Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(25-01-2026, 05:32 PM)LisaFaginDavis Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.a name? I doubt it.

Well, the name may be in the manuscript itself.  Like on page f1r, or any of the other text-only pages.

All the best, --stolfi

As the author hasn't been conclusively identified then we cannot say whether they would be a known person or not. Similarly we cannot say how easy it will be to identify the author from their DNA unless we have tried. I don't think we can justify assuming that it would not be possible.

One thing I want to add is that sequencing DNA is not only good for finding the identity of an individual, but it can also potentially tell one a lot about the individual. And again our ability to read and interpret human DNA is improving all the time.

I thought this article was interesting and relevant:

Medieval Manuscripts Are a DNA Smorgasbord You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

"Researchers are finding animal DNA in the parchment pages as well as genetic fingerprints from humans (like kissing priests)"

"they've been able to draw out the DNA and proteins of the animal that sourced the parchment as well as that of any bookworms and humans that had come in contact with the page since"

"Gibbons also reports that 20 percent of the DNA extracted from the York Gospels was human— most of it from the bacteria that lived on the skin and noses of priests who took an oath by kissing certain pages."

"it’s even possible to find the DNA of specific historical individuals who handled a book during their lifetime."

(25-01-2026, 08:15 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Similarly we cannot say how easy it will be to identify the author from their DNA unless we have tried.

It is very well possible to determine likelihoods without 'trying'.

There is also no limit to the number of things that are not worth trying at all.

If further animal/plant DNA links to a location is Yale obligated to return the manuscript to the country of origin?

(26-01-2026, 12:22 AM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

(25-01-2026, 08:15 PM)Mark Knowles Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Similarly we cannot say how easy it will be to identify the author from their DNA unless we have tried.

It is very well possible to determine likelihoods without 'trying'.

There is also no limit to the number of things that are not worth trying at all.

In this instance I am not at all sure it is easy to determine likelihoods and given the huge advantage to Voynich research in determining the author the upside is great. How would one determine the likelihood? Supposing we have extracted the author/scribe's DNA, what is the probability that they are someone whose name has been recorded in history? Given the cost and technical knowledge involved in producing the manuscript I think it quite high, but others might disagree as this is not easy to evaluate.

Well, let's see what happens as this technology develops and I will continue posting links to what I see as relevant research advances.

(26-01-2026, 01:22 AM)Doireannjane Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.If further animal/plant DNA links to a location is Yale obligated to return the manuscript to the country of origin?

Absolutely not. There is a clear and legal chain of ownership from the 1600s to today, so repatriation is definitely not an issue.