history of forensics

first police crime lab established in Los Angeles.

fingerprint id used in crime

first school of forensic science

4 second dental match

First pathology reports published

Valentin Ross developed a method of detecting arsenic in a victim's stomach, thus advancing the investigation of poison deaths.

First recorded instance of physical matching of evidence leading to a murder conviction (John Toms, England). Evidence was a torn edge of newspaper in a pistol that matched newspaper in his pocket.

Ambroise Paré (1510–1590) writes extensively on the anatomy of war and homicidal wounds.

Taylor and Wilkes write a paper on determination of time since death from the fall in body temperature.

R. Fischer describes the furrows on human lips; a fact that later formed the basis for cheiloscopy (lip print ID)

M. Frei-Sulzer develops the tape lifting method of collecting trace evidence.

Thumb prints were found in clay seals in ancient China.

Erasistratus, an ancient Greek physician, observes his patients’ pulse rates increase when they tell him lies.

Antistius, an ancient Roman physician, examines the body of Julius Caesar after his assassination and finds more than 23 stab wounds.

The Chinese book, Hsi Duan Yu (the Washing Away of Wrong), is the first recorded application of medical knowledge to the solution of crime. The book becomes an official text for coroners.

Sir Thomas Browne discovers adipocere, the fatty, waxy, soap-like substance derived from decayed human corpses buried in moist, air-free places.

Mary Blandy was tried at Oxford for murdering her father with arsenic. She was found guilty and hanged.

Malpighi, professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, noted ridges, spirals and loops in fingerprints.

Henry Goddard of Scotland Yard, first uses bullet comparison to catch a murderer.

Mathieu B. Orfila, the father of modern toxicology, publishes Traite des Poisons. He is the first to attempt to use a microscope in the assessment of blood and semen stains.

C.F. Schonbein discovers the ability of hemoglobin to oxidize in H2O2 making it foam. This is the first presumptive test for blood.