ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses career and experiences of world-renowned forensic scientist, Dr. Douglas Lucas. As his experience with fire investigations developed, his challenging mentor, Professor Rogers, decided that he should also learn something about explosives. He may have had an ulterior motive because one of the activities that kept him busy, often at night, was dealing with nitroglycerine (NG), remaining after it had been used to blow, or attempt to blow, a safe. Even with the experts who used only small amounts of NG, there was usually some left unexploded. Professor Rogers therefore trained him in the intricacies of the neutralization of NG. He had developed a procedure for the chemical neutralization of NG using a solution of potassium hydroxide in methanol. NG is produced by the action of a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids on glycerin. Experience in fire investigation and dealing with situations involving NG led inevitably to requests to expand that experience into the investigation of explosions.
