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1300
13th Century China
There was a stabbing in a Chinese village. To decipher the person who did the stabbing, the village had everyone bring their knives out. Flies were attracted to the one that previously had blood on, forcing the suspect to confess. -
Mathieu Orfila
Considered the father of toxicology, because he was the first chemist to publish a scientific paper on the detection of poisons and their effects on animals. -
William Herschel
Used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India -
Alphonse Bertillon
He is considered the “Father of Criminal Identification” and also developed Anthropometry which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals. -
Henry Faulds
Uses fingerprints to eliminate an innocent burglary suspect -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Published his first Sherlock Holmes story; Considered the first “CSI”, featured in 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
Wrote the first paper describing the application of scientific principles to the field of criminal investigation. Published Criminal Investigation. -
Karl Landsteiner
Discovered the ABO blood groups, later received Nobel Prize. -
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. -
Albert S. Osborn
Published Questioned Documents. Developed the fundamental principles of document examination -
Leon Lattes
Developed a method for determining blood type from dried blood. -
August Vollmer
Established the First Crime Lab in United States, located in Los Angeles. -
Calvin Goddard
Developed a comparison microscope; first used to compare bullets to see if fired from the same weapon.
