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Period: 1290 to
Important Contributions in Forensic Science
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1300
13th Century China
The first case ever recorded using forensic science. Someone was stabbed, and so all knifes in the village were collected. Flies landed on only one knife causing the suspect to confess. -
Mathieu Orfila
Father of Toxicology, because he published first scientific paper on detection of poisons and their effects. -
William Herschel
Used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India. -
Alphonse Bertillion
Father of Criminal Identification. Developed Anthropometry, which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals. -
Henry Faulds
Used fingerprints to eliminate innocent burglary suspect -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Published Sherlock Holmes story; considered the first CSI, featured 4 novels and 56 short stories, popularized scientific crime-detection methods. -
Francis Galton
Published "Finger Prints", conducted the first definitive study of fingerprints and their classification. It gave proof of their uniqueness. -
Hans Gross
Wrote the first paper describing the application of scientific principles to the field of criminal investigation. Also published "Criminal Investigation -
Karl Landsteiner
Discovered the ABO blood groups, later received Nobel Prize. -
Edmond Locard
Incorporated Gross' principles within a workable crime lab; he became founder and director of the institute of Criminalistics at University of Lyons, France -
Albert S. Osborn
Published "Questioned Documents", developed the fundamental principles of document examination. -
Leone Lattes
Developed a method for determining blood type for dried blood -
August Vollmer
Established the First Crime Lab in United States, located in Los Angeles -
Calvin Goddard
Developed a comparison microscope; first used to compare bullets to see if fired from the same weapon
