-
Matheiu Orfila "Founding Father of Toxicology"
Orfila worked to make chemical analysis a routine part of forensic medicine, and made studies of asphyxiation, the decomposition of bodies, and exhumation. -
Alphonse Bertillon "Founding Father of Criminal Identification"
Alphonse Bertillon was a French police officer and biometrics researcher who applied the anthropological technique of anthropometry to law enforcement creating an identification system based on physical measurements. -
William Herschel "Founding Father of Fingerprinting"
In 1877, Herschel was appointed Magistrate of Hooghly. He instituted the taking of pensioners' fingerprints, so that their pensions could not be collected by an imposter. He also began the fingerprinting of criminals, so that their jail sentences could not be carried out by a hired impostor. -
Henry Faulds (Furthered Fingerprinting Sciences)
Scottish doctor Henry Faulds was working in Japan when he discovered fingerprints left by artists on ancient pieces of clay. This finding inspired him to begin investigating fingerprints. In 1880, Faulds wrote to his cousin, the famed naturalist Charles Darwin, and asked for help with developing a fingerprint classification system. Darwin declined, but forwarded the letter to his cousin, Sir Francis Galton. -
Sir Authur Conan Doyle (Author of Sherlock Holmes)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, has long been credited as an influence to forensic science due to his character's use of methods such as fingerprints, serology, ciphers, trace evidence, and footprints. -
Francis Galton and Identifying Individuals
The pioneer in fingerprint identification was Sir Francis Galton, an anthropologist by training, who was the first to show scientifically how fingerprints could be used to identify individuals -
Hans Gross and the Cross-Transfer of Evidence
Helped to establish the science of forensics, especially in terms of a cross-transfer of evidence, such as dirt, fingerprints, carpet fibres, or hair, from the criminal to the victim. -
Karl Landsteiner and the ABO Blood Groups
Austrian biologist, physician, and immunologist.[3] He distinguished the main blood groups in 1900, having developed the modern system of classification of blood groups from his identification of the presence of agglutinins in the blood -
Edmond Locard and the "Locard's Principle"
He formulated the basic principle of forensic science: "Every contact leaves a trace". This became known as Locard's exchange principle. -
Albert S. Osborn and Document Examination
Albert Sherman Osborn is considered the father of the science of questioned document examination in North America and wrote Questioned Document Problems were widely acclaimed by both the legal profession and by public and private laboratories concerned with matters involving questioned documents. -
Leone Lattes and Dried Blood Identification
Leone Lattes was an italian scientist who devised a procedure by which dried blood stains could be restored and grouped in the blood type categories A, B, AB, or O -
August Vollmer and the Technological Aspects of Forensic Sciences
Vollmer was a highly progressive police chief who made the city of Berkeley the center of his innovations. He became Berkeley's first police chief in the early 1900s and began advancing policing in its use of technology, training and, most importantly, education. -
Calvin Goddard and the Development of the Comparison Microscope
Calvin Hooker Goddard was a forensic scientist, army officer, academic, researcher and a pioneer in forensic ballistics. He examined the bullet casings. And created the comparison microscope to examine unique striae left on the bullet or cartridge case from the worn, machined metal of the barrel, breach block, extractor, or firing pin in the gun.
