forensic - Timeline

1604: First Americans autopsies are done by french settlers in St. Croix Island.

1609: Francois Demelle publishes the first treatise on document examination in France.

1775: Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–1786) develops the first test for arsenic.

1787: Johann Metzger develops a method for isolating arsenic.

1810: The first use of document examination in a criminal investigation involves the analysis of ink dye on a document known as Konigin Hanschritt in Germany.

1823: Johannes Purkinje (1787–1869) devises the first crude fingerprint classification system.

1902: Harry Jackson becomes the first person in England to be convicted by fingerprint evidence.

1920: Physicist John Fisher invents the helixometer.

2001 Technology speeds up DNA profiling time, from 6-8 weeks to between 1-2 days.

2011: Michigan state university develops software that automatically matches hand-drawn facial sketches to mug shots stored in databases.