The History of Forensic Science

By Chris Pearson
  • 1200

    13th Century China (The first case)

    13th Century China (The first case)
    Xi yuan lu (Collected cases of injustice rectified) written by Song Ci
    - world's first ever written book on forensic science
    - someone was stabbed and all of the knives in the village were collected. Flies are attracted to traces of blood and landed on only one of the knives collected.

  • Mathieu Orfila (1814)

    Mathieu Orfila (1814)
    The “Father of Forensic Toxicology”
    - chemist who published the first scientific paper on the detection
    of poisons and their effects on animals

  • William Herschel (1856)

    William Herschel (1856)
    Herschel, a British ICS officer, used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India.

  • Alphonse Bertillon (1856)

    Alphonse Bertillon (1856)
    Known as “Father of Criminal Identification”.
    - developed Anthropometry which uses body measurements to
    distinguish individuals

  • Henry Faulds (1880)

    Henry Faulds (1880)
    Scottish doctor, missionary, and scientist who used fingerprints to eliminate an innocent burglary suspect.

  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)
    British writer who published his first Sherlock Holmes story
    - it was considered the first “CSI”, featured in four novels and 56
    short stories
    - popularized scientific crime-detection methods.

  • Francis Galton (1892)

    Francis Galton (1892)
    Published Finger Prints.
    - Conducted the first definitive study of fingerprints and their
    classification.
    - gave proof of their uniqueness

  • Hans Gross (1893)

    Hans Gross (1893)
    Wrote the first paper describing the application of scientific principles to the field of criminal investigation.
    - Published Criminal Investigation

  • Karl Landsteiner (1901)

    Karl Landsteiner (1901)
    Discovered the ABO blood groups and later received Nobel Prize.

  • Edmond Locard (1910)

    Edmond Locard (1910)
    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 (1910)

    Albert S. Osborn (1910)
    Published Questioned Documents. Developed the fundamental principles of document examination.

  • 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 United States, located in Los Angeles.

  • Calvin Goddard (1925)

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