Editing Forensic science (section)

=== Late 19th – early 20th century figures ===
[[File:Shoeprint(forensic).jpg|thumb|right|Shoeprints have long been used to match a pair of shoes to a crime scene.]]

[[Hans Gross]] applied scientific methods to crime scenes and was responsible for the birth of criminalistics.

[[Edmond Locard]] expanded on Gross' work with [[Locard%27s exchange principle]] which stated "whenever two objects come into contact with one another, materials are exchanged between them". This means that every contact by a criminal leaves a trace.

[[Alexandre Lacassagne]], who taught Locard, produced autopsy standards on actual forensic cases.

[[Alphonse Bertillon]] was a French criminologist and founder of [[Anthropometry]] (scientific study of measurements and proportions of the human body). He used anthropometry for identification, stating that, since each individual is unique, by measuring aspects of physical difference there could be a personal identification system. He created the Bertillon System around 1879, a way of identifying criminals and citizens by measuring 20 parts of the body. In 1884, over 240 repeat offenders were caught using the Bertillon system, but the system was largely superseded by fingerprinting.

[[Joseph Thomas Walker]], known for his work at [[Massachusetts State Police]] Chemical Laboratory, for developing many modern forensic techniques which he frequently published in academic journals, and for teaching at the Department of Legal Medicine, [[Harvard University]].  

[[Frances Glessner Lee]], known as "the mother of forensic science",<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/nutshells | title=Murder is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death}}</ref> was instrumental in the development of forensic science in the US. She lobbied to have coroners replaced by medical professionals, endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, and conducted many seminars to educate homicide investigators. She also created the [[Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death]], intricate crime scene dioramas used to train investigators, which are still in use today.