forensics timeline

  • first use of photography

    first use of photography
    San Francisco uses photography for criminal identification, the first city in the US to do so.
  • hair used in forsenics

    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.
  • dr.joseph bell

    dr.joseph bell
    Joseph Bell FRCSE was a Scottish surgeon and lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. He is best known as an inspiration for the literary character Sherlock Holmes
  • scapel

    scapel
    a knife with a small, sharp, sometimes detachable blade, as used by a surgeon
  • polygraph

    polygraph
    used in police stations
  • dr.william bass

    dr.william bass
    William Marvin Bass III is an American forensic anthropologist, best known for his research on human osteology and human decomposition. He has also assisted federal, local, and non-U.S. authorities in the identification of human remains.
  • crime lab

    crime lab
    First police crime lab established in Los Angeles.
  • william r maples

    william r maples
    William Ross Maples, Ph.D. was an American forensic anthropologist working at the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory at the Florida Museum of Natural History. His specialty was the study of bones.
  • Voice recording, used as evidence

    	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.
  • Period: to

    ted bundy

    American serial killer and rapist Ted Bundy was one of the most notorious criminals of the late 20th century, known to have killed at least 20 women in the 1970s. He was executed in the electric chair in 1989.
  • first use of shoeprint

    first use of shoeprint
    Britain's Forensic Science Service develops online footwear coding and detection system. This helps police to identify footwear marks quickly.
  • Facial sketches matched to photos

    Michigan state university develops software that automatically matches hand-drawn facial sketches to mug shots stored in databases.