History of Forensic Science

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering the key historical figures, inventions, and developments in forensic science based on the lecture notes.

Chinese Manual of Forensic Science (1248)

Published by the Chinese in 1248, this is the first known record of medical knowledge being used to solve criminal cases.

Pathology

The science of the causes and effects of diseases, especially the branch of medicine dealing with the laboratory examination of samples of body tissue for diagnostic or forensic purposes.

John Toms Case (1784)

The first recorded instance of physical matching of evidence leading to a murder conviction in England, where a torn edge of newspaper in a pistol matched newspaper found in the suspect's pocket.

Valentin Ross

German chemist who in 1806 developed a method of isolating arsenic in a victim's stomach, advancing toxicology in death investigations.

Mathieu Orfila

Chemist considered the 'Father of Forensic Toxicology' who in 1814 published the first scientific paper on the detection of poisons and their effects on animals.

James Marsh

English chemist who in 1836 used chemistry to identify arsenic as the cause of death in a murder trial.

San Francisco Criminal Identification Photography (1854)

In 1854, San Francisco became the first city in the United States to use photography for criminal identification.

William Herschel (1856)

In 1856, he used thumbprints on documents to identify workers in India.

Alphonse Bertillon

Known as the 'Father of Criminal Identification,' he developed Anthropometry in 1879 using body measurements to distinguish individuals.

Henry Faulds and William James Herschel (1880)

In 1880, published a paper describing the uniqueness of human fingerprints.

Francis Galton

A scientist who adapted fingerprint findings to be used in court, identified fingerprint patterns, and published 'Finger Prints' in 1892 providing proof of their uniqueness.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)

Published the first Sherlock Holmes story 'A Study in Scarlet' in 1887, beginning a popular trend of science and police stories.

Coroner's Act (1887)

An 1887 act establishing that coroners were to have the duty to determine the cause(s) of sudden, violent, and unnatural deaths.

Anthropometry (1888)

A system using various measurements of physical features and bones used throughout the US and Europe to reduce a criminal's information to a set of numbers.

Hans Gross

Wrote 'Criminal Investigation' in 1893, the first paper describing the application of scientific principles to the field of criminal investigation.

Karl Landsteiner

Discovered the ABO blood groups in 1901 (later receiving a Nobel Prize), a concept adapted for forensic use on bloodstains by Dieter Max Richter.

Galton-Henry System (1901)

A fingerprint identification system adopted by Scotland Yard in 1901 that became the most widely used fingerprinting method in police work.

Rodolphe Archibald Reiss

Founded the first school of forensic science in Switzerland in 1909.

Victor Balthazard and Marcelle Lambert (1910)

Published the first study on hair (including animal hair) in 1910, leading to the first legal case involving hair evidence.

Edmond Locard

Founder and director of the Institute of Criminalistics at the University of Lyons, France, who incorporated Hans Gross's principles within a workable crime lab in 1910.

Albert S. Osborn

Published 'Questioned Documents' in 1910 and developed the fundamental principles of document examination.

Thomas Jennings

Became the first U.S. citizen convicted of a crime by the use of fingerprints in 1910.

Victor Balthazard Bullet Matching (1912)

In 1912, realized tool marks on gun barrels leave unique identifying grooves on bullets and developed photographic methods to match bullets to guns.

Leone Lattes

Developed a method in 1915 for determining blood type from dried blood.

August Vollmer / LAPD Crime Lab (1923)

Chief August Vollmer commanded the Los Angeles Police Department in setting up the first police crime lab in 1923 to deal with evidence from crime scenes.

Comparison Microscope

Developed by Philip Gravelle and Calvin Goddard in 1925 to view two pieces of evidence side-by-side simultaneously, first used to compare bullets.

Polygraph Machine

Originally invented by John Larson in 1921, a prototype polygraph machine was developed in 1930 for use at police stations.

FBI Crime Laboratory (1932)

Designed by the FBI in 1932, becoming one of the foremost crime laboratories in the world.

Walter Specht / Luminol (1937)

In 1937, Walter Specht first used Luminol (originally developed in 1928 by Albrecht) at crime scenes to bond with iron in human blood and detect blood traces.

W.H. Krogman

Published a seminal 1939 article on examining skeletal remains in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, bringing anthropology to forensic investigation.

Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty (1943)

Discovered in 1943 that DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) carries genetic information.

DNA Double-Helix Discovery (1953)

Identified by James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins in 1953, utilizing Dr. Rosalind Franklin's X-Ray diffraction work.

Sound Spectrograph (1960)

Discovered in 1960 to record voices, enabling voiceprints to be used in investigations and court evidence from audio recordings.

National Crime Information Center (NCIC)

A computerized national filing system established by the FBI in 1967 covering wanted people, stolen vehicles, weapons, and other records.

Gunshot Residue Detection Technology (1974)

Developed at Aerospace Corporation in the US in 1974 to link a suspect to a crime scene and measure proximity to a fired firearm.

Sir Alec Jeffreys

Developed the DNA 'fingerprint' technique in 1983, which led to the conviction of Colin Pitchfork and exonerated an innocent main suspect.

National DNA Index System (NDIS)

An operational national DNA database program launched in 1998 that produced over 332,348 hits assisting in more than 318,824 investigations by May 2016.

Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS)

Established by the FBI in 1999, reducing fingerprint inquiry response time from an average of two weeks to roughly two hours.

Online Footwear Coding and Detection System (2007)

Developed by Britain's Forensic Science Service in 2007 to help police quickly identify footwear marks found at crime scenes.

Facial Sketch Matching Software (2011)

Developed by Michigan State University in 2011 to automatically match hand-drawn facial sketches to mug shots stored in databases.

Dental X-ray Matching System (2011)

Developed by Japanese researchers in 2011 to automatically match dental x-rays in a database with a positive match in under 4 seconds.