History of Forensics

By Neil Rode

  • Karl Landsteiner

    Karl Landsteiner
    first discovers human blood groups and is awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in 1930. Max RICHTER adapts the technique to type stains. This is one of the first instances of performing validation experiments specifically to adapt a method for forensic science.

  • Henry P. DeFORREST

    pioneers the first systematic use of fingerprints in the United States by the New York Civil Service Commission.

  • New York State Prison system

    begins the first systematic use of fingerprints in United States for criminal identification

  • Edmund Locard

    successor to LACASSAGNE as professor of forensic medicine at the University of Lyons, France, establishes the first police crime laboratory.

  • Masaeo Takayama

    develops another microscopic crystal test for hemoglobin using hemochromogen crystals.

  • J.J. Thomson

    J.J. Thomson
    picturebuilds the first mass spectrometer known as the hyperbola spectrograph.

  • Edmond Locard

    Edmond Locard
    videohref='http://sanchezlm.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/edmond-locard.jpg' >picture</a>first suggests 12 matching points as a positive fingerprint identification.

  • Calvin Goddard

    Calvin Goddard
    picturewith Charles E. WAITE, Phillip O. GRAVELLE, and John H FISHER, perfect the comparison microscope for use in bullet comparison.

  • Saburo Sirai

    Japanese scientist, is credited with the first recognition of secretion of group-specific antigens into body fluids other than blood.

  • The Federal Bureau of Investigation

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation
    PIcturecrime laboratory is created.

  • Franz Josef Holzer

    publishes the first paper addressing the usefulness of secretor status for forensic applications

  • The American Academy of Forensic Science

    The American Academy of Forensic Science
    picture(AAFS) is formed in Chicago, Illinois. The group also begins publication of the Journal of Forensic Science (JFS).

  • Paul KIRK publishes Crime Investigation

    one of the first comprehensive criminalistics and crime investigation texts that encompass theory in addition to practice.

  • The Federal Rules of Evidence

    originally promulgated by the U.S. Supreme Court, are enacted as a congressional statute. They are based on the relevancy standard in which scientific evidence that is deemed more prejudicial than probative may not be admitted.

  • The FBI

    The FBI
    FBIintroduces the beginnings of its Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) with the first computerized scans of fingerprints.