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1247
13th century China
The first case ever recorded using forensic science was in 1247, the Chinese lawyer Sung Ts'u recounts a story of a murder near a rice field. The victim had been slashed with what the investigators suspected to be a sickle. -
Mathieu Orfila
Mathieu Orfila was considered the "father of toxicology" because he was the original founder of the principle. Orfila analyzed poison's effects on humans and created a method of detecting the presence of arsenic within murder victims. The method was called the Marsh Test. -
William Herschel
Used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India -
Alphonse Bertillon
The "father of criminal identification". He developed Anthropometry which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals -
Henry Faulds
Used fingerprints to eliminate an "innocent" burglary suspect -
Sir Authur Conan Doyle
Published his 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 proof of their uniqueness -
Hans Gross
Wrote the first paper describing the application of scientific principles to the field of criminal investigation. Published "Criminal Investigation -
Karl Landsteiner
Discovered the ABO blood groups, later received Nobel Prize -
Edmond Locard
Incorporated Gross' principles within a workable crime lab; became the founder and director of the Institute of Criminalistics at the University of Lyons, France. -
Albert S. Osborn
Published "Questioned Documents". Developed the fundamental principles 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
