• Jan 1, 700

    Chinese used fingerprints to establish identity of documents and clay sculptures

    Chinese used fingerprints to establish identity of documents and clay sculptures
  • Period: Jan 1, 700 to

    Forensics

  • Jan 1, 1000

    Roman courts determined that bloody palm prints were used to frame a man in his brother’s murder

  • Jan 1, 1149

    King Richard of England introduced the idea of the coroner to investigate questionable death

  • Jan 1, 1200

    A murder in China is solved when flies were attracted to invisible blood residue on a sword of a man in the community

  • Fidelus was first to practice forensic medicine in Italy

  • Anton Van Leeuwenhoek constructed the first high-powered microscope

    Anton Van Leeuwenhoek constructed the first high-powered microscope
  • Paul Revere identified the body of General Joseph Warren based on the false teeth he had made for him

  • John Toms convicted of murder on basis of torn edge of wad of paper in pistol matching a piece of paper in his pocket

  • Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen developed the science of spectroscopy.

  • Crime scene photography developed

    Crime scene photography developed
  • Alphonse Bertillon developed a system to identify people using particular body measurements

  • Edward Henry developed first classification system for fingerprint identification

  • Karl Landsteiner identified human blood groups

    Karl Landsteiner identified human blood groups
  • Edmond Locard formulated his famous principle, “Every contact leaves a trace.”

  • Francis Aston developed the mass spectrometer.

    Francis Aston developed the mass spectrometer.
  • James Watson and Francis Crick discover the DNA double helix

    James Watson and Francis Crick discover the DNA double helix
  • AFIS developed by FBI, fully automated in 1996

  • Jeffreys developed and used first DNA tests to be applied to a criminal case