Forensic Science throughout the years

By jassminelu
  • 44 BCE

    23 vs 1

    Julius Caesar is assassinated. He got 23 wounds and just 1 was fatal.
  • 400

    Who says

    Germanic and Slavic societies made law that medical experts must be the ones to determine cause of death in crimes.
  • 1248

    First Book

    First Forensic Science manual published by the Chinese. This was the first known record of medical knowledge being used to solve criminal cases.

  • Reporting cases

    First pathology reports published.

  • Physical evidence used in criminal case

    First recorded instance of physical matching of evidence leading to a murder conviction. Evidence was a torn edge of newspaper in a pistol that matched newspaper in his pocket.

  • Investigating poisoning

    German chemist Valentin Ross develop a method of detecting arsenic in a victim's stomach, thus advancing the investigation of poison deaths.

  • Chemical Testing utilized

    James Marsh, an English chemist, uses chemical processes to determine arsenic as the cause of death in a murder trial.

  • Spectroscopy

    Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen developed the science of spectroscopy.

  • Crime Scene photography

    Crime scene photography developed.

  • Identify people

    Alphonse Bertillon developed a system to identify people using particular body measurements.

  • Sherlock Holmes and the coroner

    Coroner's act established that coroners' were to determine the causes of sudden, violent, and unnatural deaths. Arthur Conan Doyle also publishes the first Sherlock Holmes story.

  • Fingerprint investigation

    Edward Henry developed first classification system for fingerprint identification.

  • Human Blood

    Karl Landsteiner identified human blood groups.

  • Evidence theory

    Edmont Locard formulated theory: "every contact leaves a trace"

  • Guns are unique

    Victor Baithazard realizes that tools used to make gun barrels never leave the same markings, and individual gun barrels leave identifying grooves on each bullet fired through it. So he developed several methods of matching bullets to guns via photography

  • Crime labs built

    First police crime lab established in Los Angeles.

  • Lie detection

    Prototype polygraph, which was invented by John Larson in 1921, developed for use in police station.

  • Voice recording = evidence

    A sound spectograph discovered to be able to record voices. Voice prints began to be used in investigations and as court evidence from recording of phones, answering machines, or tape recorders.

  • AFIS

    AFIS developed by FBI

  • First DNA test

    Jeffrey developed and used first DNA test ti be applied to a criminal case.

  • DNA evidence certified

    National Academy of Sciences announces DNA evidence is reliable.

  • FASTER fingerprint ID

    FBI establishes the integrated automated fingerprint identification system, cutting down fingerprint inquiry response from two weeks to two hours.

  • Footwear detection system

    Britain develops online footwear coding and detection system.

  • Detection after cleaning

    A way for scientists to visualize fingerprints even after the print has been removed is developed, relating to how fingerprints can corrode metal surfaces.

  • 4 second dental match

    Japanese researches develop a dental x-ray matching system in less than 4 seconds.

  • Facial sketches matched to photos

    Michigan state university develops software that automatically matches hand-drawn facial sketches to mug shots stored in databases.