History of forensics

First use of fingerprints

1000 BCE

Some of the earliest uses of fingerprinting date back to 1000 BC when fingerprints were used in place of signatures on official documents in places including China, Babylon, Persia, and Nova Scotia.

First autopsy

44 BCE

Julius Caesar was assassinated, A physician then performed an autopsy and determined that of the 23 wounds, only one of them was fatal.

First forensics science book

1248

First forensic science manual published by the Chinese. This was the first known record of medical knowledge being used to solve criminal cases.

First pathology reports published

1600

Antonio Beniveni developed 'De abditis Nonnullis ac Mirandis Morborum et Sanationum Causius', the first publication in which pathology findings appear separately and systematically, with over 100 descriptions of cases he encountered during his research.

First instance of physical evidence leading to a murder conviction

1784

1784 In Lancaster, England, John Toms was convicted of murder on the basis of the torn edge of wad of newspaper in a pistol matching a remaining piece in his pocket. This was one of the first documented uses of physical matching.

San Francisco uses photography for criminal identification

Jan 27, 1854

First uses of photos in identification (1854-59 ) San Francisco uses photography for criminal identification, the first city in the US to do so.

Alphonse Bertillon

1879

First to use anthropology and morphology in the system of personal identification. "anthropometry" - series of body measurements to distinguish one individual from another. "Father of criminal identification". French scientist

Hair in forensics

1910

Victor balthazard publish study on hair. Legal cases involving hair soon follow this study.

Dr. Leone Lattes

1915

Devised a simple procedure for determining the blood group of a dried bloodstain. Professor at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Italy.

The case of Ted Bundy

Feb 15, 1978

The prosecution determined that the bite patterns were unique to Bundy's teeth. Bundy was convicted based on this forensic evidence and because he ran which allowed a new precedent was set in this case that guilt can be assumed if the suspect runs.

Sir Alec Jeffreys

1984

Developed first DNA profiling test. 2 years later: first time to solve a crime by using DNA profiling and finding a criminal suspect innocent

NDIS

1989

The National DNA INdex System becomes operational. National DNA Index System (NDIS) is a system of DNA profile records input by criminal justice agencies