Forensics became a science in the 1950's, when Paul L. Kirk undertook a massive effort to change the field of criminalistics from a high-grade detective investigative tool to an actual scientific discipline. See his book: "Crime Investigation: Physical Evidence and the Police Laboratory Interscience "(1953).
Besides Kirk, though, there are many important people in the history of Forensics. Bertillon had his own system of identification measurements (which didn't work, but it did help start the idea of fingerprints into popular work in the 1870s). Sir Francis Galton published a text on fingerprints (called "Finger Prints" (1892), which the early court systems relied upon heavily for determining the admissibility of fingerprints in court. Sir Edward Henry stole the idea for his namesake, the Henry Classification System - he stole them from two Indian police officers with whom he worked in India, Azizul Haque and Chandra Bose. The Henry Classification System started in 1894.
Hans Gross has been attributed to making kriminalistics an operation discipline in the late 1800s (can't remember specifics off hand right now).
Edmund Locard started the first crime lab in the world, in Lyons, France, 1910.
There's a lot of rich history in forensics, but I'm out of time, and can't tell you anymore. Good luck!
Feb 23, 2011 Rating
History of Forensic Science by: Anonymous
Autopsy were performed in the late 1600's and gradually became a practice here in the US around the late 1800's. I would consider this the first influence of forensic science. By the mid 1900's individuals started to use a crude form of tool mark impressions and apply it to ballistics. Although there was much debate over the individual's findings.
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