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1792 BCE
Fingerprints
Hammurabi takes fingerprints of people who had been arrested -
300
Handprints as evidence
Handprints used in China as evidence in a trial for theft -
1248
Using science in criminal cases
Song Ci writes "Xi Yuan Lu", account of using medicine and entomology to solve criminal cases -
1500
Manner of death
(16th century) European army doctors begin to gather info about manner of death -
Detecting arsenic in corpses
Carl Wilhelm Steele invents method for detecting arsenic in corpses -
Comparison Microscope
Henry Goddard of Scotland Yard creates the comparison microscope to examine bullets and shell casings -
Arsenic toxicology
Scottish chemist James Marsh develops a chemical test to detect arsenic -
Criminal classification, mugshots
French police officer Alphonse Bertillon develops method to classify criminals, including mugshots -
Criminal profile
Jack the Ripper large door-to-door investigation; earliest surviving offender profile -
Fingerprint classification
Sir Francis Galton establishes process for classifying fingerprints -
fingerprint records
Argentinian police chief Juan Vucetich creates a method of recording criminal fingerprints and first fingerprint bureau -
Criminalistics
Hans Gross writes "Handbook for Coroners, Police officials, and Military Policemen", birth of the field of criminalistics -
Fingerprint classification techniques
Sir Edward Henry develops the standard for criminal fingerprinting classification techniques -
blood research
Paul Unlenhuth develops test to distinguish human blood from animal blood -
US fingerprinting
NY police commissioner Joseph Faurot introduces criminal fingerprinting to US -
French Crime Lab
Frenchman Edmond Locard set up the first crime lab
"The Sherlock Holmes of France" -
American crime lab
LA police chief August Vollmer established the first American crime lab -
ABO Blood classication
Karl Landsteiner develops human blood classification system, ABO, wins Nobel Prize -
Gunshot residue
Scientists at Aerospace Corp of California develop method for using electron microscope to examine gunshot residue -
DNA analysis
first use of a forensic DNA Analysis -
DNA fingerprinting
DNA Fingerprinting used to convict Colin Pitchfork of the murder of 2 teenage girls