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1248
First use of Forensic Science
In 1248, Song Ci wrote about the first uses of medicine and entomology to solve crimes during the Song Dynasty. He described how to differentiate between different types of crimes, and how to examine corpses to determine if a death was a murder, suicide, or accident. -
Mathieu Orfila
Orfila developed a way to test for Arsenic, a poison commonly used for murder while he was alive. -
William Hershcel
Herschel used thumbprints as a form of identification on documents for workers in India. -
Alphonse Bertillon
Dubbed the "Father of Criminal Identification", he used body measurements as a form of identification, called Anthropometry. -
Henry Faulds
Used fingerprint Identification to eliminate an innocent burglary suspect. -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Doyle published his first "Sherlock Holmes" novel. Popularized scientific crime detection methods, and was featured in 4 novel and over 50 shirt stories. -
Francis Galton
Galton conducted the first definitive fingerprint study and proved that fingerprints are unique to each person. -
Hans Gross
Wrote the first paper that applied scientific principles to criminal investigation. Published "criminal Investigation" -
Karl Landsteiner
Discovered the ABO blood types, and won a Nobel Prize. -
Edmond Locard
Incorporated Gross' principles inside of a crime lab, became the founder of the Institute of Criminalistics at the University of Lyon, France. -
Albert S. Osborn
Published "Questioned Documents", which helped develop the fundamentals of document examination. -
Leone Lattes
Lattes developed a blood typing method that worked on dried blood, which is usually found at crime scenes. -
August Vollmer
Established the first Crime Lab in Los Angeles, California. -
Calvin Goddard
Developed the comparison microscope, which was first used to compare bullets to see if they were fired form the same weapon.
