Forensic Science: 1910-1923

Forensic Things That Happened From 1910-1923

Period: Jan 1, 1910 to Dec 31, 1923

Hey, this is a time line, but that's obvious.

Hair and Guns

Apr 18, 1910

Victor Balthazard, professor of forensic medicine at the Sorbonne, with Marcelle Lambert, published the first
comprehensive hair study, Le poil de l'homme et des animaux. In one of the first cases involving hairs, Rosella
Rousseau was convinced to confess to murder of Germaine Bichon. Balthazard also used photographic enlargements
of bullets and cartridge cases to determining weapon type and was among the first to attempt to individualize a bullet
to a weapon.

First Police Crime Lab

May 27, 1910

Edmund Locard, successor to Lacassagne as professor of forensic medicine at the University of Lyons, France,
established the first police crime laboratory.

Questinoed Documents is Published

Jun 20, 1910

Albert S. Osborne, an American and arguably the most influential document examiner, published Questioned
Documents.

Crystals

Feb 8, 1912

Masaeo Takayama developed another microscopic crystal test for hemoglobin using hemochromogen crystals.

Individualizing Bullet Markings

Jan 8, 1913

Victor Balthazard, professor of forensic medicine at the Sorbonne, published the first article on individualizing bullet
markings.

ABO Blood Groups

Jul 13, 1915

Leone Lattes, professor at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Turin Italy, developed the first antibody test for ABO
blood groups. He first used the test in casework to resolve a marital dispute. He published L’Individualità del sangue
nella biologia, nella clinica, nella medicina, legale, the first book dealing not only with clinical issues, but heritability,
paternity, and typing of dried stains.

International Association of Identification

Aug 24, 1915

International Association for Criminal Identification, (to become The International Association of Identification
(IAI), was organized in Oakland, California.

Trace Evidence

Oct 30, 1916

Albert Schneider of Berkeley, California first used a vacuum apparatus to collect trace evidence.

Matching Fingerprint Identification

Aug 24, 1918

Edmond Locard first suggested 12 matching points as a positive fingerprint identification.

Botanical Identification

May 25, 1920

Georg Popp pioneered the use of botanical identification in forensic work.

Mark Comparison

May 26, 1920

Luke May, one of the first American criminalists, pioneered striation analysis in tool mark comparison, including an
attempt at statistical validation. In 1930 he published The identification of knives, tools and instruments, a positive
science, in The American Journal of Police Science.

Bullets and Microscopes

Nov 28, 1920

Calvin Goddard, with Charles Waite, Phillip O. Gravelle, and John H Fisher, perfected the comparison microscope
for use in bullet comparison.

Catalog of Weapon Data

Dec 19, 1920

Charles E. Waite was the first to catalog manufacturing data about weapons.

Portable Polygraph

Mar 14, 1921

John Larson and Leonard Keeler designed the portable polygraph.

Vittorio Siracusa

Jul 26, 1923

Vittorio Siracusa, working at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the R. University of Messina, Italy, developed the
absorbtion-elution test for ABO blood typing of stains. Along with his mentor, Lattes also performed significant work
on the absorbtion-inhibition technique.

Polygraph Testing

Dec 31, 1923

In Frye v. United States, polygraph test results were ruled inadmissible. The federal ruling introduced the concept of
general acceptance and stated that polygraph testing did not meet that criterion.