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201 BCE
3rd Century Chinese
While investigating a man's corpse, the investigator noticed that the man did not have ashes in his mouth, and this did not line up with his wife's story. To make sure he was right, the investigator burned a pig that was alive and a pig that was already dead to compare their corpses. The only one without ashes in its mouth was the one who was already dead, implying that the man was already dead before being burned. After this information was proposed, the wife confessed to the murder. -
1564
Ambrose Pare'
Pare' was a surgeon in France who is well known for developing new methods for surgery, and overall, giving surgery a better reputation at the time. He developed the method of tying limbs to stop bleeding, as well as using herbs or disinfectants to treat wounds instead of the usual unnecessary painful methods from before. Pare's methods saved many lives. -
Marcello Malpighi
This italian biologist made many brilliant discoveries about the human body, such as the taste sensors on tongues, the different layers of skin and what causes pigmentation, the structure of lungs, and the central nervous system. He also published a book about fingerprints and and hand lines and how they can be used to help identify different people due to their uniqueness to each person. This book laid a strong foundation for all of the forensic studies made after him. -
John Toms
In England, John Toms was convicted of murder after one of the first uses of physical matching was used in his case. They were able to identify him as the killer after they were able to match a torn wad in a pistol that matched the piece of paper in his pocket. -
Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila
Orfila was a Spanish chemist who helped develop tests for the presence of blood in a crime scene. He was also one of the first people to use a microscope to examine blood and semen stains to identify potential suspects from the dna found in those pieces of evidence. One of his greatest achievements was working to incorporate chemical analysis into forensic medicine, giving him the name "Father of Toxicology". -
Henry Goddard
Goddard did extensive research on forensic ballistics and firearms identification in London. He recognized the potential of firearms as evidence to help identify any criminals involved in a crime. With these methods, Goddard successfully identified a murderer by using a bullet recovered from the victim's autopsy. -
James Marsh
Marsh was a British chemist who is well known for developing a method for testing any presence of arsenic in a person's blood. The test he developed is very sensitive and accurate in showing any levels of arsenic in the bloodstream, and it was the first use of toxicology in a jury trial. The test was named after him, the "Marsh" test, which is useful in identifying when a victim has been poisoned. -
Odelbrecht
In Brazil, Odelbrecht was the first to use photography to document evidence in crime scenes. He also used photography to keep tract of criminals/ suspects. These methods are still used worldwide today in forensic science. -
Alexandre Lacassagne
While being a professor of Forensic Medicine at Lyon University, he figured out that used bullets have a unique firing signature depending on the type of gun that they were shot from. This was a huge step in using ballistics analysis to identify suspects with crime scene evidence. Along with this, he also insisted on thorough post-mortem exams to further examine how a victim died and more information about their identity. -
Sir Edward Richard Henry
(India) Sir Edward Richard Henry had one of the biggest contributions to the use of fingerprints in forensic science history. He collected thousands of samples of fingerprints and ended up creating a whole system that is used to classify them. He put every fingerprint into categories, starting from patterns of loops, whorls, and arches. This system is still used to this day, and makes fingerprint classification a whole lit easier. -
Joseph A. Faurot
Farout was the detective that brought fingerprinting to the US. He was also the first to identify a criminal and convict him of crime with the use of fingerprints in the US as well. -
L.W. Atcherly
This English police officer developed the concept called "Behin modus operandi", which means the motive behind the crime committed. He considered factors like location, tools, point/ method of entry, time of day of the crime committed, etc. in order to determine the method of the killer. -
Dr. Edmond Locard
This French criminologist said that "every contact leaves a trace", which then became the basic principle of forensic science, and is to this day. -
Phillip O. Gravelle
Developed a comparison microscope that was used in ballistics examination. This ultimately helped identify fired bullets and cartridge cases recovered from crime scenes and could also help link them to a suspect. This was a huge step in the development of firearms identification in forensics. -
August Vollmer
This American Police Officer helped develop the improvement in crime analysis and encouraged higher education in policing in California. He also promoted the use of fingerprinting and crime laboratories in his area.