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1300
First Case
The first case ever recorded using forensic science. When a person was stabbed, all of the knives were collected. Flies were attracted to the blood and landed one specific knife. This caused the suspect to confess. -
Mathieu Orfila
Mathieu Orfila was considered the "Father of Forensic Toxicology." Orfila was a chemist who published the first scientific paper on the detection of poisons and their effects on animals. -
William Herschel
Herschel used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India. -
Alphonse Bertillon
Bertillon was known as "Father of Criminal Identification." Bertillon developed anthropometry which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals. -
Henry Faulds
Faulds uses fingerprints to eliminate an innocent burglary suspect. -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Doyle published his first Sherlock Holmes story which was considered the first "CSI." Sherlock Holmes was featured in four novels and 56 short stories,popularized scientific crime-detection methods. -
Francis Galton
Galton published Finger Prints. Galton also conducted the first definitive study of fingerprints and their classification. This gave proof of fingerprints uniqueness. -
Hans Gross
Gross published Criminal Investigation. Gross also wrote the first paper describing the application of scientific principles to the field of criminal investigation. -
Karl Landsteiner
Landsteiner discovered the ABO blood groups and later received the Nobel Prize. -
Edmond Locard
Locard incorporated Gross' principles within a workable crime lab. Locard became the founder and director of the Institute of Criminalistics at the University of Lyons, France. -
Albert S. Osborn
Osborn published Questioned Documents. Osborn also developed the fundamental principles of document examination. -
Leone Lattes
Lattes developed a method for determining blood type from dried blood. -
August Vollmer
Vollmer established the first crime lab in the United States, located in Los Angeles. -
Calvin Goddard
Goddard developed a comparison miscroscope; first used to compare bullets to see if it was fired from the same weapon.
