Forensic Science & History

13th Century China

1250 BCE

The first case ever recorded using forensic science was when someone was stabbed in a village in China. The knives in the village were collected, flies were attracted to the blood and landed only on one knife.

Mathieu Orfila

1814

Considered the 'father of forensic toxicology' after publishing the first scientific paper on the detection of poisons & their effects on animals. Found out that a woman drugged her husband with arsenic.

William Herschel

1856

Used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India.

Alphonse Bertillon

1879

'Father of Criminal Identification.' Developed Anthropometry, uses body measurements to distinguish individuals.

Henry Faulds

1880

Used fingerprints to eliminate an innocent burglary suspect.

Francis Galton

1880

Published 'Finger Prints,' conducted first definitive study of fingerprints & their classification. Gave proof to their uniqueness.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1887

Published his first Sherlock Holmes story, considered the first 'CSI' story, featured in 4 novels & 56 short stories, popularized scientific crime-detection methods.

Hans Gross

1893

Wrote 1st paper describing the application of scientific principles to the fired of criminal investigation.

Karl Landsteiner

1901

Discovered the ABO blood groups, later received Nobel Prize

Edmond Locard

1910

Incorporated Gross' principles within a workable crime lab, became founder & director of the Institute of Criminalistics at University of Lyons, France.

Albert S. Osborn

1915

Published Questioned Documents, developed the fundamental principles of document examination.

Leone Lattes

1915

Developed method for determining blood type from dried blood.

August Vollmer

1915

Established the 1st crime lab in the United States, located in LA.

Calvin Goddard

1925

Developed a comparison microscope, first used to compare bullets to see if fired from the same weapon.