Lewul
Is it something like the Utah teapot ?

In October 29, 1999, I received an email from Chuck McNanis telling us that the “unknown researcher” who scanned the “Lenna” image was Dr. William K. Pratt. Here is the email:

I worked for 5 years ('78 - ‘83) at the Image Processing Institute as a system programmer in the Image Processing Lab (IPL) which distributed Lenna and several other images (including the Mandril) which people often refer to as “The baboon image.” The “unknown researcher” was Dr. William K. Pratt, now of Sun Microsystems, who was writing a book on image processing and he needed some standard images for it. For a long time the folded up centerfold that had been the basis for that image was in the file cabinet at the lab. I went back in 1997 to visit and the lab has undergone many changes and the original image files were nowhere to be found. The original distribution format was 1600BPI 9-track tape with each color plane stored separately.

–Chuck McManis (USC Class of ’83)