Forensics Timeline

By kristik
  • First Case with Physical Matching

    First Case with Physical Matching

    the first documented case of physical matching was a case of an English man convicted of murder. The torn edge of a wad of newspaper in a pistol matches a piece that had been in his pockets.
  • Mathieu Orfila

    Mathieu Orfila

    Throughout his career, Orfila worked to establish chemical analysis as a routine role in forensic science. Orfila is often referred to as the “Father of Toxicology.”
  • Marsh Test

    Marsh Test

    James Marsh discovered a sensitive chemical test to detect arsenic, this was named The Marsh Test
  • Forensics Toxicology First Used

    Forensics Toxicology First Used

    Forensics toxicology is used in the case of Marie Lafarge. Using The Marsh Test she was convicted of poisoning her husband with arsenic.
  • Alphonse Bertillon

    Alphonse Bertillon

    Chief of criminal identification for the Paris police who developed the Bertillon System, also known as anthropometry. This system incorporates body measurements, photographs, and physical description to assist in identification.
  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    The author of Sherlock Holmes, he influenced forensic science because his books drew so much attention to forensic science.
  • Francis Galton

    Francis Galton

    Galton’s research led him to discover that fingerprinting is a reliable way of identifying people.
  • Karl Landsteiner Discovered Blood Groups.

    Karl Landsteiner Discovered Blood Groups.

    The discovery of blood groups gave the advantage to forensic scientists by being able to compare blood types. Investigators could compare blood left at a crime scene to the blood of a suspect.
  • Fingerprints Used in Prison

    Fingerprints Used in Prison

    The New York state prison was the first prison in the US to use fingerprints for criminal investigation.
  • Albert S Osborn

    Albert S Osborn

    He wrote “Questioned Documents,” the first significant text in the field of forgery detection. Because of this, courts started to recognize forged documents of scientific evidence.
  • Leone Lattes

    Leone Lattes

    A forensic scientist who developed the method for restoring dry blood to be used for blood-type testing. Later, he discovered a way to determine blood type from dried blood.
  • Calvin Goddard

    Calvin Goddard

    He co-established the Bureau of Forensic Ballistics in New York, the first institution devoted to the examination of firearms. He developed the science of identifying bullets, and proved that every weapon creates individual characteristic marks on the fired bullets
  • Kary B. Mullis

    Kary B. Mullis

    Mullis invented the polymerase chain reaction, in which small amounts of DNA could be quickly copied into large amounts. He won a Nobel Prize for his work