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1247
13th century China
a lawyer tells the story of a murder near a rice field. The victim had been slashed repeatedly, and investigators suspected the weapon used was a sickle, a common tool used in the rice harvest. They brought all the workers together and told them to lay down their sickles. Though all the tools looked clean, one quickly attracted hordes of flies. The flies could sense the residue of blood and tissue invisible to the human eye. When confronted, the murderer confessed to the crime. -
Mathieu Orfila
Mathieu Orfila, known as the "Father of Forensic Toxicology", worked to make chemical analysis a routine part of forensic medicine. He made studies of asphyxiation, the decomposition of bodies, and exhumation. He also worked to improve public health system and medical training -
William herschel
first to advocate the use of fingerprints for identification of criminals. In India William used them for security measures on documents or contracts -
Alphonse Bertillon
"Father of Criminal Identification". Developed Anthropology which created and identification system based on physical measurements -
Henry Faulds
uses fingerprints to eliminate an innocent burglary suspect -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Published the first Sherlock Holmes story; considered the first "CSI" featured in four novels and 56 short stories, popularized scientific crime-detection methods -
Francis Galton
conducted the first definitive study of fingerprints, their classification, and their unique patterns -
Hans Gross
wrote the first paper describing the application of scientific principles to the field of criminal investigation. -
Karl Landsteiner
discovered the ABO blood groups, later received a noble 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 fires from the same weapon.
