History of forensic science 21288436

Mrs. BdG's Forensic Timeline

By mb18239n
  • First Lie Detector - 250 BC
    250

    First Lie Detector - 250 BC

    Erasistratus, an ancient Greek physician, discovers that his patients’ pulse rates increase when they are telling lies. Allegedly the first lie detection test. Approximately 250 BC
  • First Fingerprints pre-700 BC
    Jan 1, 700

    First Fingerprints pre-700 BC

    Fingerprints are used on clay tablets for business transaction in ancient Babylon, dating before 700 BC
  • Sickle Murder
    Jan 1, 1235

    Sickle Murder

    Story of Sung Tzu and the bloody sickle. A murder was committed using a sickle. All those in the village who owned a sickle were made to bring them out and lay them in the sun. Eventually flies gathered on one particular sickle, identifying it as the murder weapon.
  • Creation of the Microscope

    Creation of the Microscope

    The first microscope is developed.
  • Evidence for Hanging and Drowning Deaths

    Evidence for Hanging and Drowning Deaths

    Thomas Bell first describes ‘pink teeth’ and assumes they are pathognomonic of hanging or drowning.
  • Bertillon's Measurements for Identification

    Bertillon's Measurements for Identification

    The director of the French prison system announced publicly that he intended to introduce Bertillon’s system into all of the country’s prisons as a means of identification using different body measurements
  • Discovery of DNA

    Discovery of DNA

    James Watson and Francis Crick publish a landmark paper identifying the structure of DNA.