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1200
13th Century China
The first ever case to use forensic science. Someone was stabbed, and all of the knives were collected. Flies were attracted to the knife with blood traces, which lead to the killer to confess his crimes. -
Mathieu Orfila
The "Father of Forensic Toxicology". He performed several experiments on animals and what effects the poison had on their bodies. These findings were published into a scientific paper -
William Herschel
He used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India -
Alphonse Bertillon
"Father of Criminal Investigation". Developed anthropometry, which uses body measurements to distinguish individuals -
Henry Fauld
Uses fingerprints to eliminate an innocent burglary suspect -
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Published his first Sherlock Holmes story; considered the first "CSI", featured in four novels and 56 short stories. These stories popularized crime detection methods -
Francis Galton
Published the book Fingerprints. He conducted the first definitive study of fingerprints and their classification. His studies gave proof of their uniqueness in people -
Hans Gross
Published the book Criminal Investigation. He wrote the first paper describing the application of scientific principles to the field of criminal investigation -
Karl Landsteiner
Discovered the ABO blood groups, due to the specific antigens in each blood. He received the Nobel Prize for his work -
Edmond Locard
Incorporated Gross's principles within a workable crime lab. He became the founder and director of the Institute of Criminalistics at the University of Lyons, France -
Albert S. Osborn
Published the book Questioned Documents. He developed the fundamental principles of document examination -
Leone Lattes
He developed a method for determining blood type from a dried blood sample -
August Vollmer
Established the first crime lab in the United States, which was located in Los Angeles, California -
Calvin Goddard
He developed a comparison microscope. This was first used to compare bullets to see if they were fired from the same weapons.
