Earlier this week, a team of scientists, historians, and genealogists announced that they had discovered the identity of the "Unknown Child," a young boy who was found in the water around the Titanic several days after it sank on April 5, 1912. Using three small teeth from the boy's grave in Halifax's Fairview Lawn Cemetery and a blood sample from a Finnish woman thought to be related to the boy, researcher Alan Parr (from Lakehead University) was able to determine that the boy was in fact Eino Viljami Panula, who was traveling with his mother and four brothers to America. While the discovery granted closure to one family and their descendants, there are still many persons who perished in the sinking of the Titanic who have never been positively identified.

The first link leads to a complete news story on the recent discovery published by the BBC. The second link features material from an upcoming PBS television program on the question of using forensic science in answering questions associated with identifying persons on board the Titanic when it sank. The third link offers a nice overview of DNA testing written by Dr. Donald E. Riley. The fourth link leads to a detailed list of all the other Titanic victims buried at Halifax's Fairview and Mt. Olivet cemeteries. The fifth link is to the fabulous Encyclopedia Titanica, which is a massive compendium of all things Titanic, including passenger biographies, theories on why the ship sank, and research articles. The final link is to the RMS Titanic, Inc. homepage, which includes information about the Titanic's various research missions to recover materials and detritus from the Titanic's resting place at the bottom of the North Atlantic.