History of Forensic Science

17th Century

1600

Scientific analysis became more based on observation and experimentation.

17th Century

1600

The Chinese were the first to use forensics.

17th Century

1635

Microscopes made for this purpose were first created at the end of the 16th century and during the 17th century

18th century

1788

J. C. A. Mayer showed the earliest knowledg of difference fingerprints had, commenting that the patterns of ‘skin ridges’ was never the same between two people.

18th Century

1828

John Davy investigated measuring of body temperature to obtain times of death.

18 Century

1828

first use of toxicology in a criminal trial

19th century

1850

The camera was refined and so photography had important implications in forensics

19th century

1853

Had advancements in forensic chemistry, with quite a few tests for blood.

19th century

1889

Alexandre Lacasseagn matched grooves identified on the bullet to grooves found on the inside of the gun barrel

20th century

1900

Frankfurt Germany analysed soil layers and plant matter in it to link a suspect to a crime.

20th century

1903

USA’s first use of fingerprinting for identification of prisoners

20th century

1957

Paul Uhlenhuth made achemical test to identify what species a sample of blood belonged to and to distinguish between human and non-human blood.

21st century

2000

Analysis of DNA with the STR method, in combination with a technique called PCR, allows much smaller amount of DNA to be identified, and can be used on DNA that has been partially damaged.

21st century

2008

relatively new idea of forensic linguistics, involving the examination of written and spoken language

21st century

2009

The procedure known as ‘biometrics’ uses anatomical features of individuals caught on camera to help identify them. These identifying features can range from their face to skin, scars and tattoos.