This forensic scientist knows the write stuff.

• Position: People

Those who don't consider molecular chemistry a sexy line of work haven't seen what ink analyst Al Lyter, 52, can do with a microscope. Take his involvement in the case of Cleveland resident John Demjanjuk, whom Israel tried in 1986 for the crimes of "Ivan the Terrible," a brutal guard at the World War II death camp Treblinka.

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Lyter went to Israel for the defense to examine a Nazi ID card with Demjanjuk's photo and a record of his postings. Was the card, which had writing in German and a translation in Russian, proof of Demjanjuk's identity? Analyzing molecular changes in the inks, Lyter determined how much time had elapsed since each writing. He found the Russian writing, made in fountain-pen ink, had been put on the card after the war. It matched ink Lyter found in tiny holes in the photo, leading him to conclude the photo had also been inserted after the war. That cast doubt on the card's authenticity. Demjanjuk was convicted anyway but acquitted on appeal in 1993. His U.S. citizenship was revoked in 2002.

Lyter is the founder and chief scientific officer of Raleigh-based Federal Forensic Associates Inc., one of four private ink-analysis businesses in the country. He is not a handwriting expert. His work is more complex. With electron microscopes and other high-tech equipment, he analyzes inks to determine their molecular composition. The evidence he provides often is used in cases where wills or medical records...