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Forensic Chemistry Time Line

287-212 B.C.

Legend: fraudulent coins, Archimedes compared the amount of water displaced by a genuine coin verses suspected fraudulent coin to determine how much silver alloy was in the suspect gold coin [Ref. 2, p. 9]
180-189

First record of alchemy associated with Egypt [Ref. 3, p. 51]
400-409

The term "chemistry" used for first time by Alexandrian scholars [Ref. 3, p. 55]
1669

Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus [Ref. 4, p. 29]
1860

Bunsen and Kirchoff found that by controlling the temperature of a gas cause it to radiate light of a specific wavelength which corresponded to a molecular structure. This eventually allowed for the identification of inorganic substances by converting them into a gas [Ref. 2, p. 10]
1885

Alexander von Inostranzeff, a Russian mineralogist, developed the first comparison bridge with two opposing microscopes [Ref. 1, p. 122]
1895

Professor Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered that a cathode in contact with matter generate secondary light rays which carry no charge but can pass through solids [Ref. 2, p. 11]
1903

Adsorption chromatography developed by Russian botanist, Michel Tswett [Ref. 5, p. 1]
1918

X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) first developed
1932

M. Knoll and Ernst August Friedrich Ruska build the first electron microscope [Ref. 6, p. 22]
1940

Vincent Hnizda, a chemist with Ethyl Corporation, is believed to be the first chemist to extract liquid accellerants from debris collected in an arson investigation [Ref. 7, p. 89]
1949

X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) invented. UV and IR spectroscopy and NMR invented
1950ca.

Ultraviolet and infrared spectrometry, X-ray diffraction and paper chromatography applied to forensic science [Ref. 8, p. 6]
1953

First commercial gas chromatograph developed
1957

D.L. Adams improves on vacuum distillation with the creation of the "purge-and-trap", increasing the range of accellerants that can be extracted from fire debris [Ref. 7, p. 91].
1958

E. Stahl standardizes thin-layer chromatography and showed its wide application [Ref. 5, p. VII]
1960

Doug Lucas, Centre of Forensic Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, applies Gas Liquid Chromatography to the comparison and potential identification of brand petroleum products [Ref. 1, p. 96]
1965

Scanning Electron Microscopy using a beam of electrons rather than light allowing for magnifications in the order of 150Kx [Ref. 1, p. 9]
1966

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy invented
1972

Midkiff and Washington report the use of heated head space sampling technique where arson debris is placed in an air-tight container and heated. A syringe is used to extract a sample of vapor from above the debris for analysis [Ref. 7, p. 91-92]

References

[1]. Lane, Brian, The Encyclopedia of Forensic Science, Headline Book Publishing PLC, 1992.
[2]. Richardson, J. R., Modern Scientific Evidence, The W. H. Anderson Company, USA 1961.
[3]. Hellemans, A. and Bunch, B., The Timetables of Science, Simon & Schuster Inc., 1988.
[4]. Hall, J. C., Inside the Crime Lab, Prentice-Hall Inc., 1974.
[5]. Randerath, K., Thin-Layer Chromatography, Academic Press, 1968.
[6]. Das, R. C., Landmark Discoveries in Biotechnology, American Biotechnology Laboratory, March 2001.
[7]. Gerber, S.M. and Saferstein, R., Eds., More Chemistry and Crime: From Marsh Arsenic Test to DNA Profile, American Chemical Society, Wash., D.C., 1997.
[8]. Maehly, A. and Strömberg, L, Chemical Criminalistics, Springer-Verlag, 1981.