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1300
13th century china
First case ever recorded using forensic science. Someone was stabbed, so all of the knives in the village were collected. Flies were attracted to the traces of blood and landed on only one of the knives, so the suspect confessed -
Mathieu Orfila
Considered the "Father of Forensic Toxicology". Published first scientific paper on the detection of poisons and their effect on animals -
William Herschel
Used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India -
Alphonse Bertillon
Father of Criminal Identification. Developed anthropology which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals. -
Henry Fauld
Uses fingerprints to eliminate an innocent burglary suspect -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Published his first Sherlock Holmes story; Considered the first CSI. featured four novels and 56 short stories, popularized scientific crime-detection methods -
Francis Galton
Published "Finger Prints". Conducted the first definitive study of fingerprints and their classification. Gave proof of their uniqueness -
Hans Gross
Published "Criminal Investigations" Wrote the first paper describing the application of scientific principles to the field of criminal investigation -
Karl Landsteiner
Discovered the ABO blood groups, later received a Nobel Prize -
Alber S. Osborn
Published "Questioned Documents" Developed the fundamental principles of document examination -
Edmond Locard
Incorporated Gross' principles within a workable crime lab' became the founder and director of the Institute of Criminalistics at the University of Lyons, France -
Leone Lattes
Developed a method for determining blood type from dried blood. -
August Vollmer
Established the first crime lab in the United States, located in Los Angeles. -
Calvin Goddard
Developed a comparison microscope; first used to compare bullets to see if it fired from the same weapon.
