Famous People in the

History of Forensic
Science
Posted Tuesday, December 23, 2014 4:09 am

Criminology is a field that holds its heroes to itself. It's doubtful that any three people
out of a hundred would know the name Mathieu Orfila or Edmond Locard, yet within
criminology, the names are legend. The work of these pioneers reaches beyond the
confines of their highly specialized field. Here is a sampling of some of the most well-
known names in forensics.
Hans Gross
Forensics, no different than any other branch of science, relies on converging lines of
inquiry – e.g. chemistry, medicine, psychology, etc. – in order to arrive at the truth.
The most important figures in this fascinating field are those who imbued it with
information and techniques from other disciplines. For this, the first name on our list
deserves a special place in forensic history. In 1893, Hans Gross, an Austrian
magistrate, published his Handbook for Coroners, Police Officials, and Military
Policemen, the first work to suggest that other fields of science be integrated into
police work in order to aid crime detection.
Mathieu Orfila
Considered the founding father of modern toxicology, French doctor Orfila published
his "Treatise on Poisons," an exhaustive reference, in 1817. Among other major
contributions, Orfila developed a highly sensitive test for the presence of arsenic,
which was actually used during his lifetime, at one point to convict a woman accused
of poisoning her husband.
John Evangelist Purkinje and Francis Galton
We owe the science of fingerprint detection to both these men. John Evangelist
Purkinje published a thesis on fingerprint analysis in 1823, although, surprisingly, he
failed to mention the potential for their use in forensics.
Francis Galton, on the other hand, a cousin of Charles Darwin, took Purkinje's
research and ran with it. In his book, Finger Prints, not only did Galton formulate and
outline the first detailed model of fingerprint analysis, he also fervently advocated
their use in forensic science.
Edmond Locard
Locard is the father of modern forensics, period. The Locard Exchange Principle,
which states simply that every criminal leaves a trace of his or herself behind, is the
foundation on which the entire field has been built. In 1910, Locard, along with two
assistants, started the first police laboratory – in two tiny attic rooms of the police
station.
Calvin Goddard
When a firearm has been used in a crime, the evidence it leaves behind – the bullet,
the spent shell, the angle at which it was fired – requires a great deal of scrutiny and
informed observation. We owe modern concepts in forensic ballistics to Calvin
Goddard. In addition to heading the first Bureau of Forensic Ballistics, the first
independent lab devoted to criminology, Goddard edited the American Journal of
Police Science, a publication that intrigued the next person on our list.
J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover is the most famous name outside the forensics world. Inspired by the
work of Calvin Goddard, Hoover compiled what is today an essential component of
any organized system of information – a database. Hoover's database was comprised
of massive collections of fingerprints, photographs, dossiers, and assorted ephemera,
all neatly compiled and categorized. Hoover's crime lab was an efficient, meticulous
model on which all subsequent crime labs were based.
Alec Jefferys and Clea Koff
Alec Jefferys's groundbreaking work in DNA "fingerprinting" gave us a new detection
tool that would make Locard proud. Clea Koff's work in the bourgeoning field of
forensic anthropology discovered methods by which specific characteristics of an
individual can be revealed through skeletal structure. As their predecessors paved new
ground for them, so too will these modern forensics heroes pave the way for future
pioneers to take us forward.