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the assassination of Julius Caesar the attending physician proclaimed that of the 23 wounds found on the body ‘only one’ was fatal
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Germanic and Slavic societies were believed to be the first to put down in statute that medical experts should be employed to determine cause of death
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the first textbook on forensic medicine was published in China which among others things documented the procedures to be followed when investigating a suspicious death.
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First recorded instance of physical matching of evidence leading to a murder conviction (John Toms, England). Evidence was a torn edge of newspaper in a pistol that matched newspaper in his pocket.
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German chemist Valentin Ross developed a method of detecting arsenic in a victim's stomach, thus advancing the investigation of poison deaths.
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Juan Vucetich, an Argentinean police officer, is the first to use fingerprints as evidence in a murder investigation. He created a system of fingerprint identification, which he termed dactyloscopy.
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First school of forensic science founded by Rodolphe Archibald Reiss, in Switzerland.
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Victor Balthazard and Marcelle Lambert publish first study on hair, including microscopic studies from most animals. First legal case ever involving hair also took place following this study
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First police crime lab established in Los Angeles.
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FBI established the National Crime Information Center, a computerized national filing system on wanted people, stolen vehicles, weapons, etc.