FORENSIC
SCIENCE TIMELINE
|
| BCE |
Fingerprints
were found in early paintings and in rock carvings of prehistoric humans. |
| 700s |
Chinese
used fingerprints to establish identity of documents and clay sculpture,
but without any formal classification system. |
| ca.
1000 |
Quintilian,
an attorney in the Roman courts, showed that bloody palm prints were meant
to frame a blind man of his mother's murder. |
| 1248 |
A Chinese
book, Hsi Duan Yu (the washing away of wrongs), contains a description
of how to distinguish drowning from strangulation. This was the first recorded
application of medical knowledge to the solution of crime. |
| 1784 |
In Lancaster,
England, John Toms was convicted of murder on the basis of the torn edge
of wad of newspaper in a pistol matching a remaining piece in his pocket.
This was one of the first documented uses of physical matching. |
| ca.
1800s |
Thomas
Bewick, an English naturalist, used engravings of his own fingerprints
to identify books he published. |
| 1813 |
Mathiew
Orfila, a Spaniard who became professor of medicinal/forensic chemistry
at University of Paris, published Traite des Poisons Tires des Regnes Mineral,
Vegetal et Animal, ou Toxicologie General l. Orfila is considered the father
of modern toxicology. He also made significant contributions to the development
of tests for the presence of blood in a forensic context and is credited
as the first to attempt the use of a microscope in the assessment of blood
and semen stains. |
| 1823 |
John
Evangelist Purkinji, a professor of anatomy at the University of Breslau,
Czecheslovakia, published the first paper on the nature of fingerprints
and suggested a classification system based on nine major types. However,
he failed to recognize their individualizing potential. |
| 1828 |
William
Nichol invented the polarizing light microscope. |
| ca.
1830s |
Adolphe
Quetelet, a Belgian statistician, provided the foundation for Bertillon's
work by stating his belief that no two human bodies were exactly alike. |
| 1835 |
Henry
Goddard, one of Scotland Yard's original Bow Street Runners, first used
bullet comparison to catch a murderer. His comparison was based on a visible
flaw in the bullet which was traced back to a mold. |
| 1836 |
James
Marsh, an Scottish chemist, was the first to use toxicology (arsenic detection)
in a jury trial. |
| 1839 |
H. Bayard
published the first reliable procedures for the microscopic detection of
sperm. He also noted the different microscopic characteristics of various
different substrate fabrics. |
| 1851 |
Jean
Servais Stas, a chemistry professor from Brussels, Belgium, was the first
successfully to identify vegetable poisons in body tissue. |
| 1853 |
Ludwig
Teichmann, in Kracow, Poland, developed the first microscopic crystal test
for hemoglobin using hemin crystals. |
| 1854 |
An English
physician, Maddox, developed dry plate photography, eclipsing M. Daguerre's
wet plate on tin method. This made practical the photographing of inmates
for prison records. |
| 1863 |
The
German scientist Schönbein first discovered the ability of hemoglobin
to oxidize hydrogen peroxide making it foam. This resulted in first presumptive
test for blood. |
| 1864 |
Odelbrecht
first advocated the use of photography for the identification of criminals
and the documentation of evidence and crime scenes. |
| 1877 |
Thomas
Taylor, microscopist to U.S. Department of Agriculture suggested that markings
of the palms of the hands and the tips of the fingers could be used for
identification in criminal cases. Although reported in the American Journal
of Microscopy and Popular Science and Scientific American, the idea was
apparently never pursued from this source. |
| 1879 |
Rudolph
Virchow, a German pathologist, was one of the first to both study hair
and recognize its limitations. |
| 1880 |
Henry
Faulds, a Scottish physician working in Tokyo, published a paper in the
journal Nature suggesting that fingerprints at the scene of a crime could
identify the offender. In one of the first recorded uses of fingerprints
to solve a crime, Faulds used fingerprints to eliminate an innocent suspect
and indicate a perpetrator in a Tokyo burglary. |
| 1891 |
Hans
Gross, examining magistrate and professor of criminal law at the University
of Graz, Austria, published Criminal Investigation, the first comprehensive
description of uses of physical evidence in solving crime. Gross is also
sometimes credited with coining the word criminalistics. |
| 1892 |
(Sir)
Francis Galton published Fingerprints, the first comprehensive book on
the nature of fingerprints and their use in solving crime. |
| 1894 |
Alfred
Dreyfus of France was convicted of treason based on a mistaken handwriting
identification by Bertillon. |
| 1896 |
Sir
Edward Richard Henry developed the print classification system that would
come to be used in Europe and North America. He published Classification
and Uses of Finger Prints. |
| 1898 |
Paul
Jesrich, a forensic chemist working in Berlin, Germany, took photomicrographs
of two bullets to compare, and subsequently individualize, the minutiae. |
| 1900 |
Karl
Landsteiner first discovered human blood groups and was awarded the Nobel
prize for his work in 1930. Max Richter adapted the technique to type stains.
This is one of the first instances of performing validation experiments
specifically to adapt a method for forensic science. Landsteiner's continued
work on the detection of blood, its species, and its type formed the basis
of practically all subsequent work. |
| 1901 |
Sir
Edward Richard Henry was appointed head of Scotland Yard and forced the
adoption of fingerprint identification to replace anthropometry. |
| 1903 |
The
New York State Prison system began the first systematic use of fingerprints
in United States for criminal identification. |
| 1904 |
Oskar
and Rudolf Adler developed a presumptive test for blood based on benzidine,
a new chemical developed by Merk. |
| 1905 |
American
President Theodore Roosevelt established Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI). |
| 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. |
| 1912 |
Masaeo
Takayama developed another microscopic crystal test for hemoglobin using
hemochromogen crystals. |
| 1913 |
Victor
Balthazard, professor of forensic medicine at the Sorbonne, published the
first article on individualizing bullet markings. |
| 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. |
| 1915 |
International
Association for Criminal Identification, (to become The International Association
of Identification (IAI), was organized in Oakland, California. |
| 1918 |
Edmond
Locard first suggested 12 matching points as a positive fingerprint identification. |
| 1920s |
Georg
Popp pioneered the use of botanical identification in forensic work. |
| 1921 |
John
Larson and Leonard Keeler designed the portable polygraph. |
| 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. |
| 1924 |
August
Vollmer, as chief of police in Los Angeles, California, implemented the
first U.S. police crime laboratory. |
| 1925 |
Saburo
Sirai, a Japanese scientist, is credited with the first recognition of
secretion of group-specific antigens into body fluids other than blood. |
| 1927 |
Landsteiner
and Levine first detected the M, N, and P blood factors leading to development
of the MNSs and P typing systems. |
| 1929 |
K. I.
Yosida, a Japanese scientist, conducted the first comprehensive investigation
establishing the existence of serological isoantibodies in body fluids
other than blood. |
| 1929 |
Calvin
Goddard's work on the St. Valentine's day massacre led to the founding
of the Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory on the campus of Northwestern
University, Evanston, Illinois. |
| 1930 |
American
Journal of Police Science was founded and published by staff of Goddard's
Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory in Chicago. In 1932, it was absorbed
by Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, becoming the Journal of Criminal
Law, Criminology and police science. |
| 1931 |
Franz
Josef Holzer, an Austrian scientist, working at the Institute for Forensic
Medicine of the University of Innsbruck, developed the absorbtion-inhibition
ABO typing technique that became the basis of that commonly used in forensic
laboratories. It was based on the prior work of Siracusa and Lattes. |
| 1932 |
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) crime laboratory was created. |
| 1938 |
M. Polonovski
and M. Jayle first identified haptoglobin. |
| 1940 |
Landsteiner
and A.S. Wiener first described Rh blood groups. |
| 1941 |
Murray
Hill of Bell Labs initiated the study voiceprint identification. The technique
was refined by L.G. Kersta. |
| 1945 |
Frank
Lundquist, working at the Legal Medicine Unit at the University of Copenhagen,
developed the acid phosphatase test for semen. |
| 1946 |
Mourant
first described the Lewis blood group system. |
| 1950 |
M. Cutbush,
and colleagues first described the Duffy blood group system. |
| 1951 |
F. H.
Allen and colleagues first described the Kidd blood grouping system. |
| 1953 |
Kirk
published Crime Investigation, one of the first comprehensive criminalistics
and crime investigation texts that encompassed theory in addition to practice. |
| 1958 |
A. S.
Weiner and colleagues introduced the use of H-lectin to determine positively
O blood type. |
| 1959 |
Hirshfeld
first identified the polymorphic nature of group specific component (Gc). |
| 1960 |
Lucas,
in Canada, described the application of gas chromatography (GC) to the
identification of petroleum products in the forensic laboratory and discussed
potential limitations in the brand identity of gasoline. |
| 1963 |
D.A.
Hopkinson and colleagues first identified the polymorphic nature of erythrocyte
acid phosphatase (EAP). |
| 1967 |
Culliford,
of the British Metropolitan Police Laboratory, initiated the development
of gel-based methods to test for isoenzymes in dried bloodstains. He was
also instrumental in the development and dissemination of methods for testing
proteins and isoenzymes in both blood and other body fluids and secretions. |
| 1968 |
Spencer
and colleagues first identified the polymorphic nature of red cell adenosine
deaminase (ADA). |
| 1971 |
Culliford
published The Examination and Typing of Bloodstains in the Crime Laboratory,
generally accepted as responsible for disseminating reliable protocols
for the typing of polymorphic protein and enzyme markers to the United
States and worldwide. |
| 1974 |
The
detection of gunshot residue (GSR) using scanning electron microscopy with
electron dispersive X-rays (SEM-EDX) technology was developed by J. E.
Wessel, P. F. Jones, Q. Y. Kwan, R. S. Nesbitt and E. J. Rattin at Aerospace
Corporation. |
| 1976 |
Zoro
and Hadley in the United Kingdom first evaluated GC-MS for forensic purposes. |
| 1977 |
Fuseo
Matsumur, a trace evidence examiner at the Saga Prefectural Crime Laboratory
of the National Police Agency of Japan, notices his own fingerprints developing
on microscope slides while mounting hairs from a taxi driver murder case.
He relates the information to co-worker Masato Soba, a latent print examiner.
Soba would later that year be the first to develop latent prints intentionally
by "Superglue(r)" fuming. |
| ca.
1977 |
The
fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR) is adapted for use
in the forensic laboratory. |
| 1984 |
(Sir)
Alec Jeffreys developed the first DNA profiling test. It involved detection
of a multilocus RFLP pattern. He published his findings in Nature in 1985. |
| 1986 |
In the
first use of DNA to solve a crime, Jeffreys used DNA profiling to identify
Colin Pitchfork as the murderer of two young girls in the English Midlands.
Significantly, in the course of the investigation, DNA was first used to
exonerate an innocent suspect. |
| 1987 |
DNA
profiling was introduced for the first time in a U.S. criminal court. Based
on RFLP analysis performed by Lifecodes, Tommy Lee Andrews was convicted
of a series of sexual assaults in Orlando, Florida. |
| 1990 |
K. Kasai
and colleagues published the first paper suggesting the D1S80 locus (pMCT118)
for forensic DNA analysis. D1S80 was subsequently developed by Cetus (subsequently
Roche Molecular Systems) corporation as a commercially available forensic
DNA typing system. |
| 1991 |
Walsh
Automation Inc., in Montreal, launched development of an automated imaging
system called the Integrated Ballistics Identification System, or IBIS,
for comparison of the marks left on fired bullets, cartridge cases, and
shell casings. This system was subsequently developed for the U.S. market
in collaboration with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). |
| 1992 |
In response
to concerns about the practice of forensic DNA analysis and interpretation
of the results, the National Research Council Committee on Forensic DNA
(NRC I) published DNA Technology in Forensic Science. |
| 1993 |
In Daubert
et al. v. Merrell Dow, a U.S. federal court relaxed the Frye standard for
admission of scientific evidence and conferred on the judge a "gatekeeping"
role. The ruling cited Karl Popper's views that scientific theories are
falsifiable as a criterion for whether something is "scientific knowledge"
and should be admissible.
|
| ca.
1994 |
Roche
Molecular Systems (formerly Cetus) released a set of five additional DNA
markers ("polymarker") to add to the HLA-DQA1 forensic DNA typing system. |
| 1996 |
In response
to continued concerns about the statistical interpretation of forensic
DNA evidence, a second National Research Council Committee on Forensic
DNA (NRC II) was convened and published The Evaluation of Forensic DNA
Evidence. |
| 1998 |
An FBI
DNA database, NIDIS, enabling interstate cooperation in linking crimes,
was put into practice. |
| 1999 |
The
FBI upgraded its computerized fingerprint database and implemented the
Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), allowing
paperless submission, storage, and search capabilities directly to the
national database maintained at the FBI. |