21 0727 st criminal

The History of Forensics Timeline

By Watt3O8
  • Carl Wilhelm Scheele

    Carl Wilhelm Scheele
    -Carl Wilhelm Scheele was a Swedish Scientist
    -First person to develop a test for detecting poison in corpses
    -The start of scientific advances that would make up forensics
  • Mathieu Orfila

    Mathieu Orfila
    -Considered the father of forensic toxicology
    -Published first scientific treatise on the detection of poison and the effects on animals.
    -Established forensic toxicology as a legitimate scientific field
  • Alphonse Bertillon

    Alphonse Bertillon
    -Alphonse Bertillon was a french scientist who helped further anthropology and morphology
    -Bertillon developed the first system of personal identification
    -The system took a series of body measurements and this test earned him the title of the father of criminal identification.
  • Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson

    Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson
    -The most well known detective in the 19th century was a fictional character written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes
    -Helped popularize the crime genre in fiction
    -Sherlock Holmes is known for using new methods of forensic science and bizzare adventures
  • First use of Fingerprinting in Forensics

    First use of Fingerprinting in Forensics
    -U.S. microscopist Thomas Taylor was the first to suggest that fingerprints were a means of identification
    -Taylor's his findings were supported by Scottish physician Henry Faulds in his research paper, Nature
    -Englishman Francis Henry Galton found the first statistical evidence and published the findings in his book, Finger Prints
  • Dr. Karl Landsteiner

    Dr. Karl Landsteiner
    -Dr. Karl Landsteiner was an Austrian biologist
    -He was the first to discover different blood types, such as A, B, AB, and O
  • Edmund Locard

    Edmund Locard
    -Edmond Locard was a Frenchman who radically changed the field of forensics
    -Locard was the first to use the scientific method in a forensic investigation
    -He established the first forensic laboratory in the world at Lyons, France.
  • First Blood Test

    First Blood Test
    -Was created by Dr. Leone Lattes who was a professor at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Turin in Italy
    -Lattes made a simple test that determined the blood group of a dried bloodstain
  • U.S. Army Colonel Calvin Goddard

    U.S. Army Colonel Calvin Goddard
    -U.S. Army Colonel Calvin Goddard refined the techniques used for firearm examination
    -He would use a comparison firearm to see if it would match with the one used in a crime
  • First USA Forensic Lab

    First USA Forensic Lab
    -The oldest forensic lab in the United States is in Los Angeles and it was created in 1923 by Police Chief August Vollmer
  • FBI Forensic Lab

    FBI Forensic Lab
    -J. Edgar Hoover led the Federal Bureau of Investigation to their first national laboratory that helped with investigations all over the nation
    -The FBI is the world's largest forensics lab and helps with over one million cases per year
  • First use of Photography in Forensics

    First use of Photography in Forensics
    -Since the Mid-20th century, photography, chromatography, spectrophotometry, and electrophoresis were used in forensic investigation.
    -These techniques helped the forensic scientists evaluate crimes with great accuracy
  • FBI's Forensic Science Research and Training Center

    FBI's Forensic Science Research and Training Center
    -Late-19th century, the FBI developed a facility dedicated to researching new methods of investigation and scientific methods used in the forensic field
    -This facility also trains new forensic scientists every year to help with research and investigations
  • Sir Alec Jeffreys

    Sir Alec Jeffreys
    -Sir Alec Jeffreys was an English scientist who made one of the biggest contributions to forensics
    -He was able to develop the first DNA profiling test and used it to solve the crime of two murdered english women