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William Herschel
William Herschel was a ICS officer known for being the first European to understand the importance of a fingerprint for identification as he recognised that they are permanent and unique. He proved this by documenting his own fingerprints over his lifetime and showed that they were permanent. -
Henry Faulds
Henry Faulds was a Scottish physician, missionary and scientist who was known for his developing of fingerprinting. Although Faulds was not the first to say that fingerprinting was permanent and unique he did propose the idea of using fingerprinting in forensic work in 1880. -
Eduard Piotrowski
Dr. Eduard Piotrowski published the first modern study of blood stains in 1895 titled "On the formation, form, direction, and spreading of blood stains after blunt trauma to the head." -
Rudolphe Reiss
Rudolphe Reiss was a German-Swiss ciminology-pioneer, forensic scientist, professor and writer. The first academic forensic science programme and Institute Of Forensic Science was founded by Reiss in 1909. -
Edmond Locard
Dr. Edmond Locard was a French pioneer in forensic science and was well known as the "Sherlock Holmes of France". He created the basic principle of "Every contact leaves a trace" as the Locard's exchange principle. In 1910 Locard created the first police laboratory. -
John Glaister
Professor John Glaister was a Scottish forensic scientist who worked as a general practitioner and police surgeon. In 1931 Glaister published the widely used resource for hair analysis information called "Hairs of Mammalia from the Medico-legal Aspect". -
Archer Martin
Archer Martin was a British chemist who was well known for Gas chromatography. In 1952 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along side Richard Synge for the invention of partition chromatography. -
Richard Synge
Dr Richard Synge was a British biochemist, who was known for chromatography. In 1952 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along side Archer Martin for the invention of partition chromatography. -
Francis Crick
Francis Crick was a British molecular biologist, biophysicist and neuroscientist. In 1953, the paper presenting the double helix structure of a DNA molecule was published along side James Watson. -
James Watson
James Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist. In 1953, the paper presenting the double helix structure of a DNA molecule was published along side Francis Crick. -
John Hicks
John Hicks played a key part of hair examination in forensics. In 1977 Hicks published "Microscopy of Hairs: A Practical Guide and Manual", which laid out the idea for the use of hair evidence by the forensic examiner. He established the relevance of hair and fiber analysis in the crime field. -
Alec Jeffreys
Sir Alec Jeffreys is a British geneticist. In 1985 Jeffreys developed the technique of genetic fingerprinting and DNA profiling which forensic scientists now currently use all around the world. -
Bernard Greenberg
Bernard Greenberg is a forensic entomologist. In 1989 Bernard Greenberg proposed the idea that the use of blow flies can help in forensics as he says "They can smell a corpse a mile away. They are winged bloodhounds and often get to a body before the police do."
