The 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy has brought forth a deluge of new books and television shows devoted to the mystery of who shot JFK. Given the technological advances since 1963, it may well be worth taking a fresh look at this event to see if anything new can be learned. This was the goal of the special “NOVA: Cold Case JFK” that aired November 13, 2013 on PBS, which used good science, ballistics, and modern forensics to tackle hypotheses such as the “single-bullet theory” in a manner that makes it difficult to believe there could have been more than one shooter. Unfortunately, the NOVA team overlooked a critical piece of physics that helps explain why the president's head is thrust backwards following the fatal shot—another key point that fuels conspiracy theories.
One primary reason for these conspiracy theories is that the fatal shot came...
