A physicist examines the Kennedy assassination film

The motion picture film of the Kennedy assassination taken by Abraham Zapruder was one of the most important exhibits examined by the Warren Commission. The author uses the tools of the physicist to draw some conclusions that escaped the notice of the Commission and its expert FBI photointerpreters. Among the subjects treated are (1) the timing of the gun shots, (2) a theoretical and experimental investigation of the ’’backward snap’’ of the President’s head immediately after he was killed—yielding the surprising result that it was consistent with a shot fired from the rear, (3) the speed at which the camera was running, and (4) a previously undetected deceleration of the President’s automobile just before the final shot. The emphasis throughout is not on the assassination but rather on the application of elementary physics principles to the solution of practical problems.