The Path to Modern Forensic Science

James Marsh

1839

He was the first person to ever testify in a criminal trial on detection of arsenic in a body of a victim. This event is important to the evolution of Forensic Science because it was the first case to ever catch a criminal using clues and science on a legitimate trial.

Alphonse Bertillon

1879

The creator of the Bertillon System or Anthropometry. He used measurements of the body to identify people by their physical appearance. This is relevant to Forensics because it stamped a new way of being able to identify people off scientific data.

Sherlock Holmes

1887

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote many stories in his career as a writer, but his most notable achievement was the creation of the character "Sherlock Holmes". He explored the usage of techniques such as fingerprinting, firearm examination, and serology. This is a very important event in the path to modern Forensics because it expanded upon the idea of using clues and evidence to uncover the mysteries left behind after a crime.

Francis Henry Galton

1892

Francis wrote the first real definitive study of fingerprints, and developed a classification system to go with them. This event is a key to Forensics because it sparked the beginning of one of the most popular and effective ways of matching a person to a crime scene or murder.

Edward Henry

1896

While he may not have been the first to do it, Edward Henry expanded upon and improved the system for classifying fingerprints. Using fingerprints gathered from prisoners, he created a database and concise classification system that would continue to be utilized for years to come.

Victor Balthazard and Marcelle Lambert

1910

In 1910, these two physicians published the first comprehensive study of hair. These studies would be used shortly after being published to solve a case where Rosella Rousseau was forced to confess after hair DNA tied her to the crime.

Edmond Locard

1940

Edmond Locard was a French doctor and criminologist who contributed a lot to the world of Forensics. Most notably he worked on the creation of Locard's Exchange Principle. This principle stated that a perpetrator would always leave something at the crime scene that could be used to find said criminal. He also opened the first ever crime laboratory in France.

James Watson & Francis Crick

1953

In 1953, James and Francis discovered that DNA was a double helix, and it marked a milestone in not only Forensics, but the entire science world as whole. This discovery would go on to support DNA usage in deducing criminal mysteries.

Alec Jeffreys

1984

Jeffreys developed the first ever DNA profiling test. This would go onto to spark the creation of the biggest and most trustable source of information in Forensic Science, the DNA databank.

IAFIS

1999

AFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) was invented in 1999 and is used to identify the fingerprints of anything in the ginormous database we have today. After receiving a fingerprint, it will send back the 3 closest matches within minutes.