Forensic Trace Evidence Time Line

Sen-en-Roku, treatise on mixing blood of parties in a paternity dispute.

Zacharias Janssen designs first operating compound microscope [Ref. 3, p. 127].

John Glaister published a comprehensive work on trace hair evidence in, Hairs of Mammalia from the Medico-Legal Aspect [Ref. 1, p. 4].

Paris, earliest examination of hairs in criminal investigation. Murder of Duchesse de Praslin [Ref. 12, p. 169].

(USA) Earliest reported case involving hair evidence on a hammer used as a murder weapon, Regina v. Teague, [Ref. 7, p. 115].

Earliest reported case involving fibre analysis in Regina v. Harrington, fibres of victim's cloth match that on murder weapon [Ref. 7, p. 117].

Soil on suspects boots compared to that at crime scene [Ref. 7, p. 121].

Trace evidence of wheat mixed with flour was presented as evidence in a murder trial [Ref. 7, p. 119].

Physical match comparison of metal fragments with edge of a suspect's razor [Ref. 7, p. 121].

First forensic investigation of human hair was reported by Rudolf Virchow, a professor and prosecutor of the Dead House of the Berlin Charité Hospital who found hairs on a victim to be a thorough record of the hairs from the defendant.

Émile Pfaff documented major components of hair, location, colors, etc., in Das Menschliche Haar [Ref. 7, p. 111].

C.M. Tidy in Legal Medicine, stressed the importance of examining blood stains for the presence of hairs and fibers. Tidy also recommended direct comparison of hairs and fibers to determine common origin. Tidy also presented one of the early formal conclusions that "'it would be safer to say two hairs are similar, than they are identical'" [Ref. 7, p. 111-113].

Researchers in Ireland develop a gradient density technique for geology and is modified in the 1940's by Linderstrom-Lang for use in the crime lab for soil and glass analysis [Ref. 4 , p. 85].

Earliest record of synthetic fibers of nitrocellulose and rayon [Ref. 7, p. 116].

Hugo Marx, an official in the State Medical and Prison Medical Examiner's office in Berlin, wrote a detailed paper on the question of identity in forensic hair examinations.

Dr. Victor Balthazard and Marcelle Lambert wrote Le Poil de l'homme et des Animaux (The Hair of Man and Animals). Includes microscopic studies of hairs from most animals [Ref. 12, p. 172].

Leitz develops binocular microscope [Ref. 7, p. 122].

Leers published work on hair deformation [Ref. 12, p. 174].

Locard publishes L'enquete criminelle et les methodes scientifique, in which he coins the axiom "Every contact leaves a trace" [Ref. 8, p. 6].

Gross describes in detail the value and examination of hair evidence [Ref. 34, p. 131-138].

England - Jeannie Donald accused of murdering eight-year-old Helen Priestley in Aberdeen. Dr. Sydney Smith and fellow Scot John Glaister matched hairs and fibers found in the sack in which the victim was discovered, with Mrs. Donald's by use of Smith's comparison microscope.

Max Frei-Sulzer, developed the use of adhesive tape to collect all trace evidence from questioned surfaces [Ref. 29, p. 384].

SWGMAT - Scientific Working Group for Materials formed to develop guidelines, identify analytical projects and generate technical papers on the preservation and improvement of trace evidence collection, analysis and testimony [Ref. 35, p. XXIV].