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1200
13th Century China
A person was stabbed. All the knives were collected and flies were attracted to the knife with traces of blood on it; the suspect confessed to the crime. -
Mathieu Orfila
He is considered the "Father of Forensic Toxicology" and he wrote a paper about the effects of poisons on animals. -
William Herschel
Used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India. -
Alphonse Bertillon
"Father of Criminal Identification". Developed Anthropometry, which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals. -
Henry Faulds
Used fingerprints to eliminate an innocent burglar suspect. -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Published his first Sherlock Holmes story; Considered the first 'CSI', featured 4 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
Discover ABO blood groups, later received the 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. -
Leone Lattes
Developed a method for determining blood type from dried blood. -
August Vollmer
Established the First crime lab in the US, located in Los Angeles. -
Calvin Goddard
Developed a comparison microscope; first used to compare bullets to see if fired from the same weapon.
