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1247
13th Century China
The first ever case recorded using forensic science. The Washing Away of Wrongs was written in the 13th century and contained proof of autopsies and showed that the Chinese were able to classify whether a death was suicide or staged to look like one. -
Mathieu Orfila Father of Toxicology
Mathieu Orfila is considered the 'Father of Toxicology' because he established forensic toxicology in 1814 while studying the affects of chemicals and poisons in animals. -
William Herschel's Discovery of the Finger Print
William Herschel founded the concept of finger printing in 1856. He used it as a tool prevent fraud while in the Civil Service in Jungipoor, India. It was used to prevent people from hiring actors to serve jail sentences and collect taxes, but not in forensics during his lifetime. -
Alphonse Bertillon
Alphonse Bertillon was a French policeman that developed a way to use photographs to measure a person's unique dimensions (Anthropometry). Creator of the mug shot. Considered one of the forefathers of forensic science and the father of Criminal Identification. -
Henry Faulds
Henry Faulds developed the idea of catching criminals via fingerprint when he observed fingerprints on ancient Japanese pottery while on an archaeological dig. He had heated debates with William Herschel through letter over who developed fingerprinting. -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the Author of the Sherlock Holmes series. Arthur Conan Doyle studied medicine and had plans of becoming a doctor. But when his father passed away and the burden of taking care of his family fell on him, he had to support them by writing short stories. The success of Sherlock Holmes allowed him to retire from his medical career all together. -
Francis Galton
Although Francis Galton was not the first to discover fingerprinting, he did conduct the first study of fingerprints and classification, giving proof to their uniqueness. -
Hans Gross
Considered the "Founding Father" of criminal profiling, Hans Gross helped define what forensic science is today. Especially with finding evidence such as hair, dirt, fingerprints, or carpet fibers. Published Criminal Investigation. -
Karl Landsteiner
Discovered the ABO blood types and won Nobel Peace 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
Leone Lattes is known for developing a method for determining blood types from dried blood. -
August Vollmer
August Volmer established the first Crime Lab in the United States, located in Los Angeles. -
Calvin Goddard
Calvin Goddard developed a comparison microscope. It was first used to compare bullets to see if they were fired from the same weapon.
