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44 BCE
Death of an emperor
Julius Caesar is assassinated. Following this event, a physician performed an autopsy, and determined that of the 23 wounds found on the body, only one was fatal. -
44 BCE
Death of an emperor
Julius Caesar is assassinated. Following this event, a physician performed an autopsy, and determined that of the 23 wounds found on the body, only one was fatal. -
400
Who determines cause of death
Germanic and Slavic societies made law that medical experts must be the ones to determine cause of death in crimes. -
Sep 8, 600
Use of fingerprints for the first time
Fingerprints first used to determine identity. Arabic merchants would take a debtor's fingerprint and attach it to the bill. -
Sep 8, 600
Use of fingerprints for the first time
Fingerprints first used to determine identity. Arabic merchants would take a debtor's fingerprint and attach it to the bill. -
Sep 8, 1248
First forensic science book
First forensic science manual published by the Chinese. This was the first known record of medical knowledge being used to solve criminal cases. -
Sep 8, 1248
First forensic science 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. -
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 (John Toms, England). Evidence was a torn edge of newspaper in a pistol that matched newspaper in his pocket. -
Investigating poisoning
German chemist Valentin Ross developed a method of detecting arsenic in a victim's stomach, thus advancing the investigation of poison deaths. -
More physical evidence discovered to work in forensics
Clothing and shoes of a farm laborer were examined and found to match evidence of a nearby murder scene, where a young woman was found drowned in a shallow pool. -
Chemical testing utilized
James Marsh, an English chemist, uses chemical processes to determine arsenic as the cause of death in a murder trial. -
Chemical testing utilized
James Marsh, an English chemist, uses chemical processes to determine arsenic as the cause of death in a murder trial. -
First uses of photos in identification (1854-59)
San Francisco uses photography for criminal identification, the first city in the US to do so. -
First uses of photos in identification (1854-59 )
San Francisco uses photography for criminal identification, the first city in the US to do so. -
Fingerprints found to be unique
Henry Faulds and William James Herschel publish a paper describing the uniqueness of fingerprints. Francis Galton, a scientist, adapted their findings for the court. Galton's system identified the following patterns: plain arch, tented arch, simple loop, central pocket loop, double loop, lateral pocket loop, plain whorl, and accidental. -
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. -
Criminal features reduced to numerical measurements
Anthropometry, a system using various measurements of physical features and bones, used throughout the US and Europe. Using the system, a criminal's information could be reduced to a set of numbers. -
Fingerprint ID used in crime
Juan Vucetich, an Argentinean police officer, is the first to use fingerprints as evidence in a murder investigation. He created a system of fingerprint identification, which he termed dactyloscopy. -
Fingerprint ID used in crime
Juan Vucetich, an Argentinean police officer, is the first to use fingerprints as evidence in a murder investigation. He created a system of fingerprint identification, which he termed dactyloscopy. -
Investigations into blood markers
Human blood grouping, ABO, discovered by Karl Landsteiner and adapted for use on bloodstains by Dieter Max Richter. -
First fingerprint prisoner ID used
NY state prison system implemented fingerprint identification. -
Hair now used in forensics
Victor Balthazard and Marcelle Lambert publish first study on hair, including microscopic studies from most animals. First legal case ever involving hair also took place following this study. -
Guns are unique
Victor Balthazard 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. He developed several methods of matching bullets to guns via photography. -
Crime labs built
First police crime lab established in Los Angeles. -
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 stations. -
Lie detection
Prototype polygraph, which was invented by John Larson in 1921, developed for use in police stations. -
Crime experts build lab
FBI establishes its own crime laboratory, now one of the foremost crime labs in the world. This same year, a chair of legal medicine at Harvard was established. -
Voice recording, used as evidence
A sound spectrograph discovered to be able to record voices. Voiceprints began to be used in investigations and as court evidence from recordings of phones, answering machines, or tape recorders. -
Voice recording, used as evidence
A sound spectrograph discovered to be able to record voices. Voiceprints began to be used in investigations and as court evidence from recordings of phones, answering machines, or tape recorders. -
First national crime system
FBI established the National Crime Information Center, a computerized national filing system on wanted people, stolen vehicles, weapons, etc. -
DNA catches the criminal
Tommy Lee Andrews convicted of a series of sexual assaults, using DNA profiling. -
Footwear detection system
Britain's Forensic Science Service develops online footwear coding and detection system. This helps police to identify footwear marks quickly. -
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. -
Facial sketches matched to photos
Michigan state university develops software that automatically matches hand-drawn facial sketches to mug shots stored in databases.