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History of Forensic Science

By court_toogay
  • death of an emperor
    44 BCE

    death of an emperor

    Julius Caesar was assassinated and a autopsy was performed on him. It was determined that 1 of 23 wounds was fatal
  • Who determines cause of death
    400

    Who determines cause of death

    Germanic and Slavic societies made law that medical experts must be the ones to determine cause of death in crimes.
  • use of finger prints for the first time
    Jan 1, 600

    use of finger prints for the first time

    Arabic merchants would take a debtor's fingerprint and attach it to the bill.
  • First forensic science book
    Jan 1, 1248

    First forensic science book

    This was the first known record of medical knowledge being used to solve criminal cases.
  • poison investigation

    poison investigation

    German chemist Valentin Ross developed a method of detecting arsenic in a victim's stomach
  • Chemical testing utilized

    Chemical testing utilized

    James Marsh, an English chemist, uses chemical processes to determine arsenic as the cause of death in a murder trial.
  • First uses of photos in identification

    First uses of photos in identification

    San Francisco uses photography for criminal identification, the first city in the US to do so.
  • Guns are unique

    Guns are unique

    Victor Balthazard realizes that tools used to make gun barrels never leave the same markings, and individual gun barrels leave identifying grooves on each bullet fired through it. He developed several methods of matching bullets to guns via photography.
  • Crime labs built

    Crime labs built

    First police crime lab established in Los Angeles.
  • Lie detection

    Lie detection

    Prototype polygraph, which was invented by John Larson in 1921, developed for use in police stations.