History of Forensic Science

Evidence of Fingerprinting in China

300 BCE

There is evidence that fingerprints and handprints have been used as evidence in Chinese criminal investigations as early as 300 BCE. Fingerprints and handprint evidence were used in cases such as burglary. Fingerprints are commonly used today to identify criminals.

First recorded official autopsy

44 BCE

Antistius, a roman physician, performs the first recorded autopsy, on Julius Caesar after his assassination. He determines that Caesar suffered from 23 stab wounds, only one of them being directly fatal. Today, autopsys are regularly performed on corpses when a death is suspicious, to figure out or confirm the cause of death.

Androse Pare's contributions

1550

Androse Pare, a french surgeon, spends much of his life documenting violent wounds and their effects on the human body. Pare's work contributed greatly to the study of forensic science, specifically in identifying the cause of death and weapons used in a murder.

First method to detect arsenic in corpses

1773

Carl Wilhelm Scheele, a now famous chemist, develops a method to detect arsenic. This was achieved by treating a sample with nitric acid which converts arsenic trioxide to arsine gas. His work was later expanded on to be more effective and was used to detect arsenic poisoning in bodies. This discovery made it much easier for investigators to determine whether arsenic was involved in a murder case.

First use of a bullet as forensic evidence

1835

Henry Goddard becomes the first to analyze the bullet taken from the victim's body. Goddard analyzes a bullet from a murder victim's body and then traces it to one of the suspects for the murder, receiving a confession. Analysis of bullets in homicides has since become a staple of evidence for modern homicide investigations.

First use of fingerprints in a police investigation

1892

Juan Vucetich, an Argentinian police official, invents a system to keep track of people's fingerprints. This system was later used in the same year, when a family was murdered and their neighbor was convicted after their fingerprints matched the records. Vucetich's system helped provide more evidence to convict people, past just a confession or interrogation.

First modern study on blood spatter analysis

1895

Dr. Eduard Piotrowski from the University of Krakow, publishes a paper that describes how blood patterns on walls are affected by various factors. He experimented with blood patterns and wrote extensively on interpreting the form, direction and spread of blood for blunt trauma. Piotrowski's work revolutionized the field of blood spatter analysis. Modern investigators analyze blood spatters as evidence to find out information like what weapon was used and how many times the victim was struck.

Test to differentiate differen types of blood is created.

1901

The Uhlenhuth Test was created by Paul Uhlenhuth in 1901. This test was used to determine if a blood sample was from an animal or a human. The process analyzes the different proteins in the blood sample to identify the animal. Today, Uhlenhuth's work is used to diffrenciate human blood from animal blood.

Locard's Exchange Principle

1910

Edmond Locard devises the basic principle of forensic science, that when two things come into contact, some form of evidence is left behind. This principle is the basis of much of modern forensic science, such as the evidence produced when someone leaves behind a fingerprint after touching a surface.

DNA profiling process is developed

1984

Sir Alec Jeffreys from the UK develops a process to compare DNA evidence. DNA samples are collected from the suspect and then from the scene of the crime. The DNA is extracted from the cells in the samples and then compared to determine a match. This process was later used to convict a man in the murder of two teenagers. DNA profiling is much more accurate than eyewitnesses for determining if someone was on the scene of a crime.