-
1200
First Use of Forensic Science
Someone in the village was stabbed so they collected all the knives and waited to see which one attracted flies. This later caused the suspect to confess. -
Mathieu Orfila
Considered the "Father of Toxicology" due to his work with poisons on animals. -
William Herschel
Used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India -
Alphonse Bertillon
"Father of Criminal Identification". Developed Anthropometry which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals. -
Henry Faulds
Uses fingerprints to eliminate innocent burglary suspect. -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Published the first Sherlock Holmes story; Considered the first "CSI", featured in four novels and 56 short stories, popularized scientific crime-detection methods. -
Francis Galton
Published Finger Prints. Conducted the first definitive study of fingerprints and their classification. Gave prove of their uniqueness. -
Hans Gross
Wrote the first paper describing the application of sceintific principals to the field of criminal investigation. Published "Criminal Investigation". -
Karl Landsteiner
Discovered the ABO blood groups, later received a Nobel Prize. -
Edmond Locard
Incorporated Gross' principals within a workable crime lab; became the founder and director of "Institute of Criminalistics" at the University of Lyons, France. -
Albert S. Osborn
Published "Questioned Documents". Developed the fundamental principals of document examination. -
Leone Lattes
Developed a method for determining blood type from dried blood. -
August Vollmer
Established the First Crime Lab in the United States, located in Los Angeles. -
Calvin Goddard
Developed a comparison microscope; first used to compare bullets to see if fired from the same weapon.
