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13 BCE
China
First forensic case ever recorded. The case consisted of a homicide and all the knives in the village were collected and flies were attracted to one, which was confirmed to be the murder weapon and the suspect confessed. -
Mathieu Orfila
He was considered the "Father of Forensic Toxicology" due to his contributions to the field. He published the first scientific paper on the detection of poisons, which he tested the effects on animals. -
William Herschel
He used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India. -
Alphonse Bertillon
Considered the "Father of Criminal Identification", he developed anthropometry which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals. -
Henry Faulds
Used fingerprints to eliminate an innocent burglary suspect -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
His first book published was Sherlock Holmes story. Was considered the first "CSI" story and featured in four novels and 56 short stories, and popularized scientific crime-detection methods. -
Francis Galton
Published "Finger Prints" and conducted the first definitive study of fingerprints and their classification, which proved their uniqueness. -
Hans Gross
He 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 and later received a Nobel Peace Prize for his findings. -
Edmond Locard
He incorporated Gross' principles within a workable crime lab. He became the founder and director of the first Institute of Criminalistics at the University of Lyons, France. -
Albert S. Osborn
Published "Questioned Documents" and developed the fundamental principles of document examination. -
Leone Lattes
Developed a method for determining blood type from dried blood -
August Vollmer
Established the first crime lab in the U.S., located in Los Angeles. -
Calvin Goddard
Developed a comparison microscope, the first used to compare bullets to see if they were fired from the same weapon.
