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1200
13th Century China
The first case that used forensics science occurred in 13th Century China. After someone was stabbed to death in a village, scientists collected all of the village knives and used flies to find the suspect. Apparently the flies were attracted to the traces of blood, and the flies landed on one knife causing the suspect to confess. -
Mathieu Orfila
Mathieu Orfila is considered the father of Toxicology because of his research and paper on the detection of poisons and their effects on animals. He made chemical analysis a routine part of Forensic medicine and produced studies in asphyxiation, decomposition of bodies and exhumation. -
William Herschel
William Herschel used thumbprints to identify worker in India and after years of study has his work, "The Origin of Fingerprinting" published. -
Alphonse Bertillon
Bertillon was dubbed the "Father of Criminal Identification" because he developed Anthropometry which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals. -
Henry Faulds
Fauld's idea of using fingerprints to eliminate innocent burglary suspects is still being used today. -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the author of Sherlock Holmes which is considered to be the first CSI. The series featured 4 novels and 56 short stories. These stories popularized scientific crime-detection methods. -
Francis Galton
Francis Galton published "Finger Prints" which gave proof to their uniqueness and was the first definitive study of fingerprint classification. -
Hans Gross
Hans Gross Wrote the first paper describing the application of scientific principles to the field of criminal investigation. He published "Criminal Investigation". -
Karl Landsteiner
Karl Landsteiner received a Nobel Prize after he discovered the ABO blood groups. -
Edmond Locard
Locard implemented Gross' idea in a criminal investigation and ended up becoming the founder and director of the Institute of Criminalistics at the University of Loyns, France. -
Albert S. Osborn
Albert Osborn developed the fundamental principles of document examination and also published "Questioned Documents". -
Leone Lattes
Leone Lattes made a method for determining blood types from dried blood. We still use this method in criminal investigations today. -
August Vollmer
August Vollmer is the founder of the first Crime Lab in the United States in Los Angeles. -
Calvin Goddard
Calvin Goddard was the first to develop a mechanism that could be used to see if bullets were fired from the same weapon. He developed a comparison microscope.
