forensicsci

By sebbyflame00

  • Reporting cases (1600s)

    First pathology reports published

  • Physical evidence used in criminal case

    First recorded instance of physical matching of evidence leading to a murder conviction (John Toms, England). Evidence was a torn edge of newspaper in a pistol that matched newspaper in his pocket.

  • Investigating poisoning

    German chemist Valentin Ross developed a method of detecting arsenic in a victim's stomach, thus advancing the investigation of poison deaths.

  • More physical evidence discovered to work in forensics

    Clothing and shoes of a farm laborer were examined and found to match evidence of a nearby murder scene, where a young woman was found drowned in a shallow pool.

  • Chemical testing utilized

    James Marsh, an English chemist, uses chemical processes to determine arsenic as the cause of death in a murder trial.

  • Investigations into blood markers

    Human blood grouping, ABO, discovered by Karl Landsteiner and adapted for use on bloodstains by Dieter Max Richter.

  • Crime experts build lab

    FBI establishes its own crime laboratory, now one of the foremost crime labs in the world. This same year, a chair of legal medicine at Harvard was established

  • First national crime system

    FBI established the National Crime Information Center, a computerized national filing system on wanted people, stolen vehicles, weapons, etc

  • Faster DNA IDs

    Technology speeds up DNA profiling time, from 6-8 weeks to between 1-2 days.

  • Detection after cleaning

    A way for scientists to visualize fingerprints even after the print has been removed is developed, relating to how fingerprints can corrode metal surfaces.

  • Facial sketches matched to photos

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