Contributions in Forensic Science

By jrperez
  • 1247 BCE

    13th Century China- First Case and book written with forensics.

    13th Century China- First Case and book written with forensics.
    First case ever recorded using forensic science:
    When someone was stabbed, 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, causing the suspect to confess. Book title: Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified or Washing Away of Wrongs
    Author: Song Chi
    Date: 1247

  • Mathieu Orfila (1814)

    Mathieu Orfila (1814)
    • “Father of Forensic Toxicology” -Chemist -Published first science paper on the poison detection and their effects on animals.

  • William Herschel (1856)

    William Herschel (1856)
    Used thumbprints on documents to identify Indian Workers.

  • Alphonse Bertillon (1879)

    Alphonse Bertillon (1879)
    “Father of Criminal Identification”. Created Anthropometry which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals.

  • Henry Fauld (1880)

    Henry Fauld (1880)
    Uses fingerprints to eliminate a burglary suspect

  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)
    -Published Sherlock Holmes
    -One of the first science based solving novels-made these type of crime novels popular
    -Sherlock was in four novels and 56 short stories: was absolutely hated by Conan Doyle who tried to kill him off several times. Was loved by the public and even his close family that he was forced to bring him back several times over.

  • Francis Galton (1892)

    Francis Galton (1892)
    Created the first study of fingerprints and their classification. Gave proof of their individuality

  • Hans Gross (1893)

    Hans Gross (1893)
    Wrote the first paper describing science principles to criminal investigation-"Founder of Criminal Profiling"

  • Karl Landsteiner (1901)

    Karl Landsteiner (1901)
    Won a Nobel Prize for discovering the A, B, and O blood groups

  • Edmond Locard (1910)

    Edmond Locard (1910)
    Incorporated Gross’ principles within a crime lab; became the founder and director of the Institute of Criminalistics at the University of Lyons (France)

  • Albert S. Osborn (1910)

    Albert S. Osborn (1910)
    Developed document examination.

  • Leone Lattes (1915)

    Leone Lattes (1915)
    Developed a method for determining blood type from dried blood

  • August Vollmer (1923)

    August Vollmer (1923)
    Established the First Crime Lab in the US- Los Angeles

  • Calvin Goddard (1925)

    Calvin Goddard (1925)
    Developed a comparison microscop- first used to compare bullets to see if fired from the same weapon