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250
First Lie Detector - 250 BC
Erasistratus, an ancient Greek physician, discovers that his patients’ pulse rates increase when they are telling lies. Allegedly the first lie detection test. Approximately 250 BC -
Jan 1, 700
First Fingerprints pre-700 BC
Fingerprints are used on clay tablets for business transaction in ancient Babylon, dating before 700 BC -
Jan 1, 1235
Sickle Murder
Story of Sung Tzu and the bloody sickle. A murder was committed using a sickle. All those in the village who owned a sickle were made to bring them out and lay them in the sun. Eventually flies gathered on one particular sickle, identifying it as the murder weapon. -
Creation of the Microscope
The first microscope is developed. -
Evidence for Hanging and Drowning Deaths
Thomas Bell first describes ‘pink teeth’ and assumes they are pathognomonic of hanging or drowning. -
Bertillon's Measurements for Identification
The director of the French prison system announced publicly that he intended to introduce Bertillon’s system into all of the country’s prisons as a means of identification using different body measurements -
Discovery of DNA
James Watson and Francis Crick publish a landmark paper identifying the structure of DNA.
