History of forensics

  • 600 BCE

    Chinese sickle case

    They relied on sickles to find suspect, by seeing if flies go to the murder weapon, sense flies are attracted to blood
  • 499 BCE

    The Chinese sickle case

    A man was murdered and the only clue was sickle
  • 300 BCE

    fingerprint analysis

    In China, fingerprints were used on clay seals for identification and to prevent tampering on documents.
  • The John Toms case

    A bullet was found at the scene and a piece of paper used as wadding from the muzzle of the gun was recovered and unfolded
    The suspect, John Toms, was apprehended, and a search of his pockets revealed a torn piece of song sheet that was an exact match
  • Mathieu Orfila

    Orfila is recognized as the "father of forensic toxicology". A Spanish-born physician and chemist, he published the first comprehensive treatise on poisons and their effects on animals in 1814.
  • ballistic analysis

    used the first documented forensic firearm examination in London. He matched a bullet from a murder victim to a suspect's bullet mold by examining a manufacturing defect on the bullet.
  • Chemical/Spectroscopy Analysis

    Scottish chemist James Marsh developed a sensitive and reliable chemical test that could detect minute traces of arsenic in human tissue. The test produced a silvery-black deposit of pure metallic arsenic which was stable and could be presented as physical evidence in court, overcoming a previous limitation where evidence would deteriorate.
  • Edmond Locard

    Often called the "father of modern forensic science," Locard developed the famous Locard's Exchange Principle. This fundamental concept states that "every contact leaves a trace," meaning that a perpetrator of a crime will bring something into the crime scene and leave with something from it,
  • comparison microscope

    The comparison microscope was adapted for forensic ballistics to compare fired bullets and cartridge cases.
  • luminol

    Walter Specht first used luminol as a forensic tool for detecting blood at crime scenes.
  • Sir Alec Jeffreys

    Sir Alec Jeffreys is considered the "father of DNA evidence" for his accidental discovery of DNA fingerprinting (genetic fingerprinting) in 1984.
  • DNA analysis

    to solve the Narborough rape and murder case, which led to the exoneration of the initial suspect and the later conviction of the actual perpetrator, Colin Pitchfork
  • PCR gene cycler

    In this case, PCR was used to identify a body that had been left in a victim's apartment. The DNA from the body was compared to DNA from the victim's family, and it was determined that the body was not the victim's, leading to the discovery of the victim's true murderer.
  • Colin Pitchfork Case

    The new invention of DNA analysis. This has moved the forensic science forward with
    Exoneration and Identification
    The "DNA Dragnet"
  • digital forensics software

    The first commercial forensic hardware and software solution, DIBS, was released, which allowed for the creation of an exact copy of digital media to be analyzed separately from the original.
  • Period: to

    Case of Cameron Todd Willingham

    A case which this guy who had kill his three daughters with a fire and was educated by State law of Texas. After that fire experts examined the area to state the case should had been undetermined. Which highlighted the Willingham case.