History of Foresics Timeline

  • 910

    Edmond Locard

    Edmond Locard
    a forensic scientist, popularly regarded as the “Sherlock Holmes of France”. In 1910 the Lyon Police Department granted Locard the opportunity to create the first crime investigation laboratory where he could analyze evidence from crime scenes.
  • Mathieu Orfila

    Mathieu Orfila
    Often called the "Father of Toxicology". He helped to develop tests for the "presence of blood in a forensic context and is credited as one of the first people to use a microscope to assess blood and semen stains".He became dean of the Faculty of Medicine in 1830 and reorganized the medical school.
  • Alphonse Bertillon

    Alphonse Bertillon
    Used the "anthropometric system", called signaletics or bertillonage. Bertillon identified people by measurements of the head and body, shape formations of the ear, mouth, eye, eyebrow,etc., unique markings such as tattoos and scars.
  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
    A British writer, who created the character Sherlock Holmes. Originally a physician, published a Study in Scarlet.
  • Francis Galton

    Francis Galton
    Galton developed his own theories on inherited traits. Later thought that a person's fingerprints might be a part of human genetics He then established a fingerprint classification system that is still in use today. In 1908, Galton published his autobiography. He received a knighthood from King Edward the year after.
  • Albert Osborn

    Albert Osborn
    He was considered the father of the science of questioned document examination in North America.His seminal book Questioned Documents was first published in 1910 and later heavily revised as a second edition in 1929.
  • Leone Lattes

    Leone Lattes
    Developed the first antibody test for ABO blood groups, which would classify blood from dried blood stains into either the A, B, AB, or O category.
  • Calvin Goddard

    pioneer in forensics ballistics, looked at bullets striations.