HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY

c.1980 B.C.	Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhet I is targeted as one of the first recorded victims of political assassination.
1500 B.C.	In Babylon, fingerprints are pressed onto clay tablets of business contracts.
c.480 B.C.	Demaratus of Sparta uses an early form of secret writing, concealing a message on a wooden tablet covered with wax, to warn his countrymen of invasion by the Persian empire.
c.300 B.C.	Arthasastra, an ancient Indian manual on politics, discusses mining, metallurgy, medicine, pyrotechnics, poisons, and fermented liquors.
c.618	In China during the T'ang dynasty (618–906 A.D.) fingerprints mark divorce decrees and business documents.
c.1600	Chemists invent invisible inks, and the rebirth of complex mathematics revives encryption and code methods long dormant since Antiquity. Later, during the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, telescopes and magnifying glasses are developed.
1609	In France, François Demelle publishes a book on the techniques of document analysis.
1679	The Habeas Corpus Act is formally passed by English Parliament.
1681	Publication of Jean Mabillon's De Re Diplomatica, which outlines the science of

	diplomatics, a precursor of questioned document examination.
c.1684	British physician Nehimiah Grew describes the shapes of ridges on the ends of the fingers in a treatise.
c.1686	As part of a general study of human skin, Italian anatomist Marcello Malpighi, an anatomy professor at the University of Bologna, describes the patterns of the ridges on the fingertips. Malpighi does not suggest that fingerprints can be used for unique identification of individuals.
1703	Although concepts of disease are primitive, in an act of biological warfare, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, suggests grinding the scabs of smallpox pustules into blankets intended for Native American tribes known to trade with the French.
1789	Congress passes the Judiciary Act, which establishes the federal justice system and creates the Office of the Attorney General, as well as the U.S. Marshal Service.
1790	France introduces the metric system.
1802	John Dalton introduces modern atomic theory into the science of chemistry.
1817	German pharmacist Frederick Serturner announces the extraction of morphine from opium.

1818	Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788–1827), French physicist, publishes his Mémoire sur la diffraction de la lumière in which he demonstrates the ability of a transverse wave theory of light to account for such phenomena as reflection, refraction, polarization, interference, and diffraction patterns.
1828	Friedrich Wöhler synthesizes urea. This is generally regarded as the first organic chemical produced in the laboratory, and an important step in disproving the idea that only living organisms can produce organic compounds. Work by Wöhler and others establishes the foundations of organic chemistry and biochemistry.
1828	Luigi Rolando (1773–1831), Italian anatomist, achieves the first synthetic electrical stimulation of the brain.
1836	Toxicological evidence (related to arsenic poisoning) is first used in a trial (in the U.K.).
1839	Semen and sperm characteristics are defined by microscopic examination.
1839	Theodore Schwann extends the theory of cells to include animals and helps establish the basic unity of the two great kingdoms of life. He publishes Microscopical Researches into the Accordance in the Structure and Growth of Animals and Plants, in which he asserts that all living things are made up of cells, and that each cell contains certain essential components. He also coins the term "metabolism" to describe the overall chemical changes that take place in living tissues.
1840	Friedrich Gustav Jacob Henle publishes the first histology textbook, General Anatomy. This work includes the first modern discussion of the germ theory of communicable diseases.
1843	Charles-Frédéric Gerhardt (1816–1856), French chemist, simplifies chemical formula-writing, so that water becomes H₂0 instead of the previous H₄0₂.
1857	Louis Pasteur demonstrates that lactic acid fermentation is caused by a living organism. Between 1857 and 1880, he performs a series of experiments that refute the doctrine of spontaneous generation. He also introduces vaccines for fowl cholera, anthrax, and rabies, based on attenuated strains of viruses and bacteria.
1858	Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow publishes his landmark paper "Cellular Pathology" and establishes the field of cellular pathology.

	Virchow asserts that all cells arise from preexisting cells (Omnis cellula e cellula). He argues that the cell is the ultimate locus of all disease.
1862	Dutch scientist J. Van Deen develops a presumptive blood test.
1862	Department of Agriculture establishes the Bureau of Chemistry, the organizational forerunner of the Food and Drug Administration.
1864	First photographic plates made for the purpose of identification of criminals and questioned documents.
1865	The United States Secret Service is established to interdict counterfeit currency and its manufacturers.
1867	Secret Service responsibilities broadened to include "detecting persons perpetrating frauds against the government."
1870	Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet shows the importance of statistical analysis for biologists and provides the foundations of biometry.
1872	Ferdinand Julius Cohn publishes the first of four papers entitled "Research on Bacteria," which establishes the foundation of bacteriology as a distinct field. He systematically divides bacteria into genera and species.
1876	Robert Koch publishes a paper on anthrax that implicates a bacterium as the cause of the disease, validating the germ theory of disease.
1877	Microscopic delineation of palm prints.
1877	Congress passes legislation prohibiting the counterfeiting of any coin, gold, or silver bar.
1878	Charles–Emanuel Sedillot introduces the term "microbe." The term becomes widely used as a term for a pathogenic bacterium.
1879	German pathologist Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow studies and characterizes hair.
c.1880	Two Englishmen working abroad notice that fingerprints are unique to individuals. Sir William Herschel, a British Magistrate working in India, uses the impressions of fingers of local businessmen to validate contracts. As Herschel collects these fingerprints, he notices that no two are alike. In Japan, British physician Henry Faulds studies fingerprints he finds on ancient

	pottery. He documents their individual patterns and develops a method for categorizing them. His work is published in the journal Nature.
1880	Louis Pasteur develops a method of weakening a microbial pathogen of chicken, and uses the term "attenuated" to describe the weakened microbe.
1882	Sir Francis Galton publishes a book titled Fingerprints, that proves that fingerprints do not change during a person's lifetime. He also develops a set of characteristics called minutia that can be used to identify fingerprints. These characteristics, also called Galton's Details, are still used in modern forensics.
1882	The German bacteriologist Robert Koch (1843–1910) discovers the tubercle bacillus and enunciates "Koch's postulates," which define the classic method of preserving, documenting, and studying bacteria.
1883	French police worker Alphonse Bertillon links criminal behavior to body measurement (anthropometry).
1887	Arthur Conan Doyle publishes first Sherlock Holmes story.
1889	In 1899 and 1900, Sir Edward Richard Henry improves on Galton's classification system, allowing forensics experts to handle larger numbers of fingerprints in their filing systems. Henry's system remains one of the most common systems used.
1892	Argentinean police worker Juan Vucetich advances the fingerprint classification system. Vucetich identifies a woman who murdered her own sons by finding her bloody print on the doorpost.
1898	In Germany, Paul Jesrich compares bullets using photomicrographs.
1900	Friedrich Ernst Dorn (1848-1916), a German physicist, demonstrates that the newly discovered radium gives off a gas as well as producing radioactive radiation. This proves to be the first demonstrable evidence that in the radioactive process, one element is actually transmuted into another.
1900	Karl Landsteiner discovers the blood-agglutination phenomenon and the four major blood types in humans.
1901	In England and Wales, fingerprints are incorporated into the criminal investigation system.

1903	The New York State Prison system begins systematically fingerprinting criminals.
1904	The St. Louis Police department uses fingerprint identification during the World's Fair.
1904	Oskar and Rudolf Adler develop a benzidine-based presumptive test for blood.
1908	Formal beginning of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) that became the FBI in 1935.
1911	Fritz Pregl (1869–1930), an Austrian chemist, first introduces organic microanalysis. He invents analytic methods that make it possible to determine the empirical formula of an organic compound from just a few milligrams of the substance.
1912	Joseph Thomson develops a forerunner of mass spectrometry and separation of isotopes.
1913	In Paris, Victor Balthazard identifies bullet marking classifications and techniques.
1915	The International Association for Criminal Identification, a precursor of the International Association for Identification (IAI), is founded, with founder Harry H. Caldwell as its presiding officer.
1915	Germany uses poison gas at the Battle of Ypres.
1916	Vacuums are used to collect trace evidence.
1918	Edmond Locard advances 12 point fingerprint matching scheme.
Oct 28, 1919	Congress passes the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act, also known as the Dyer Act. This act authorizes the Bureau of Investigation to investigate auto thefts that cross state lines.
1921	William Marston develops first modern polygraph.
1921	Twenty-six year old J. Edgar Hoover named Assistant Director of BOI.
1922	White House police force created at request of President Warren G. Harding. Ultimately this will become the uniformed division of the United States Secret Service.
1924	United States consolidates fingerprint files in the Identification Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. By 1946, there are more than 100 million fingerprint cards in their files. Eventually this

	collection of cards becomes the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, or AFIS, and in 1999 it becomes IAFIS.
1924	Los Angeles Police Chief Vollmer establishes the first U.S. police crime laboratory.
1924	J. Edgar Hoover designated Director of the BOI.
1924	BOI establishes an Identification Division after Congress authorized "the exchange of identification records with officers of the cities, counties, and states."
1925	Johannes Hans Berger (1873–1941), German neurologist, records the first human electroencephalogram (EEG).
1925	Special Agent Edwin C. Shanahan becomes the first BOI agent killed in the line of duty.
1930	American Journal of Police Science begins publication.
1930	United States Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration is renamed Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
1930	U.S. Treasury Department creates Bureau of Narcotics, which will remain the principal anti-drug agency of the federal government until the late 1960s.
1930	Primitive anthrax vaccine developed.
1932	Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) crime laboratory established.
1932	The Bureau of Investigation starts the international exchange of fingerprint data with friendly foreign governments. Halted as war approaches, the program is not re-instituted until after World War II.
1932	In response to the Lindbergh kidnapping case and other high profile cases, the Federal Kidnapping Act is passed to authorize BOI to investigate kidnappings perpetrated across state borders.
1934	U.S. Congress passes National Firearms Act.
1935	The Federal Bureau of Narcotics, forerunner of the modern Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), began a campaign that portrayed marijuana as a drug that led users to drug addiction, violence, and insanity. The government produced films such as Marihuana (1935), Reefer Madness (1936), and Assassin of Youth (1937).

Jul 1, 1935	The BOI officially becomes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
1941	Researchers publish studies of voiceprint identification.
1941	Arnold O. Beckman, American physicist and inventor, invents the spectrophotometer. This instrument measures light at the electron level and can be used for many kinds of chemical analysis.
1942	Formation of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners
1942	Alcohol Tax Unit (ATU) formed and given responsibility for enforcing the Firearms Act.
1946	R. R. Race advances Kell blood group system.
1950	Duffy blood group system advanced.
1950	American Academy of Forensic Science (AAFS) established.
1950	Puerto Rican nationalists attempt to assassinate President Harry S Truman. As a result of this incident, in which a United States Secret Service (USSS) agent is killed, Congress greatly expands the duties of USSS.
1950	The FBI initiates the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Program in May in order to draw national attention to dangerous criminals who have avoided capture.
1951	Kidd blood grouping system advanced.
1953	James D. Watson and Francis H. C. Crick publish two landmark papers in the journal Nature. The papers are entitled "Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid" and "Genetic implications of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid." Watson and Crick propose a double helical model for DNA and call attention to the genetic implications of their model. Their model is based, in part, on the x-ray crystallographic work of Rosalind Franklin and the biochemical work of Erwin Chargaff. Their model explains how the genetic material is transmitted.
1954	Indiana State Police Captain R. F. Borkenstein invents Breathalyzer®.
1958	International Association for Identification establishes the John A. Dondero Memorial Award, first awarded to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

1959	The microchip, forerunner of the microprocessor, is invented.
Nov 22, 1963	Lee Harvey Oswald assassinates President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.
1966	The Naval Investigative Service, predecessor of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, formed as an office within the Office of Naval Intelligence.
1967	National Crime Information Center created by U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
1968	U.S. anti-drug agencies in the Treasury and Health, Education, and Welfare departments merge to form the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs under the Justice Department.
1968	The National Institute of Justice established under the authority of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act to provide independent, evidence-based tools to assist state and local law enforcement.
Apr 4, 1968	James Earl Ray assassinates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. The FBI opens a special investigation based on the violation of Dr. King's civil rights so that federal jurisdiction in the matter could be established.
Jun 5, 1968	Senator Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan B. Sirhan.
1968	As a result of Senator Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, Congress authorizes protection of major Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates and nominees.
1969	Microprocessor developed.
1969	Defense Department Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) establishes ARPANET, a forerunner to the Internet.
1970	Forensic odontology division of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences created.
1970	United States Congress passes Controlled Substance Act (CSA).
1970	The Consolidated Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, is established as an organization to provide training for all federal law-enforcement personnel. Today known as the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, it is now part of the Department for Homeland Security.
1970	Congress approves the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 in October. This law contains a section known as the Racketeer

	Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act or RICO. RICO becomes an effective tool in convicting members of organized criminal enterprises.
1971	B. J. Culliford publishes The Examination and Typing of Bloodstains in the Crime Laboratory.
1972	Recombinant technology emerges as one of the most powerful techniques of molecular biology. Scientists are able to splice together pieces of DNA to form recombinant genes. As the potential uses, therapeutic and industrial, become increasingly clear, scientists and venture capitalists establish biotechnology companies.
1972	The ATF Division of IRS becomes a separate Treasury bureau, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
1974	Scanning electron microscopy with electron dispersive x rays (SEMEDX) used to identify gunshot residue.
1975	The Federal Rules of Evidence enacted.
1977	Forensic scientists begin to use Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer.
1977	FBI advances Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).
1981	First corpse donated for study received at the Body Farm.
1982	In January, federal law enforcement reorganization gives Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concurrent jurisdiction in drug-related criminal matters.
1982	The FDA issues regulations for tamper-resistant packaging after seven people die in Chicago from ingesting Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. The following year, the federal Anti-Tampering Act was passed, making it a crime to tamper with packaged consumer products.
1984	Crime-fighting efforts bolstered by the Sentencing Reform Act, which stiffens prison sentences, requiring mandatory terms for certain crimes and abolishing federal parole; and by the Victims of Crime Act. Throughout the 1980s, numerous national and community-based organizations are formed to provide support to victims of rape, spousal abuse, drunk driving, and other crimes.
1984	Congress enacts legislation making the fraudulent use of credit and debit cards a federal violation.

1984	The United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Health and Environmental Research, U.S. Department of Energy (OHER, now Office of Biological and Environmental Research), and the International Commission for Protection Against Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens (ICPEMC) cosponsor the Alta, Utah, conference, which highlights the growing role of recombinant DNA technologies. OTA incorporates the proceedings of the meeting into a report acknowledging the value of deciphering the human genome.
1984	President Ronald Reagan issues a directive giving the NSA responsibility of maintaining security of government computers.
1985	Alec Jeffreys develops "genetic fingerprinting," a method of using DNA polymorphisms (unique sequences of DNA) to identify individuals. The method, which is subsequently used in paternity, immigration, and murder cases, is generally referred to as "DNA fingerprinting."
1985	Kary Mullis, who was working at Cetus Corporation, develops the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a new method of amplifying DNA. This technique quickly becomes one of the most powerful tools of molecular biology. Cetus patents PCR and sells the patent to Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc. in 1991.
1985	The Global Positioning System (GPS) becomes operational.
1986	First use of PCR-based forensic DNA analysis in the United States. Henry Erlich confirms that two autopsy samples came from the same person in the case Pennsylvania v. Pestinikas.
1986	DNA is first used to solve a crime as Alec Jeffreys uses DNA profiling evidence to identify Colin Pitchfork as a murderer.
1986	Computer Fraud and Abuse Act enacted, defining federal computer crimes.
1986	U.S. intelligence community establishes Intelligence Community Staff Committee on MASINT (measurement and signatures intelligence) to oversee all relevant activities.
1987	Based on RFLP analysis, DNA profiling is introduced into a U.S. criminal trial.
1987	Congress passes the Computer Security Act, which makes unclassified computing systems the responsibility of the National

	Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and not the NSA with regard to technology standards development.
1987	The idea to use patterns of the iris of the eye as an identification marker was patented, along with the algorithms necessary for iris identification.
1988	International Association for Identification establishes peer-reviewed publication: Journal of Forensic Identification.
1988	Loss of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
1988	The Human Genome Organization (HUGO) is established by scientists in order to coordinate international efforts to sequence the human genome.
1988	The federal Polygraph Protection Act prohibits employers from using polygraphs for employment screening.
1991	Forensic Science Service (U.K.) established as an executive agency of the Home Office of the U.K. government.
1992	National Crime Information Center consolidates with the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services division.
1992	Naval Criminal Investigative Service formed as an entity separate from the Office of Naval Intelligence.
1993	A U.S. federal court relaxes Frye standard for admission of scientific evidence (Daubert et al. v. Merrell Dow.
Feb 26, 1993	The World Trade Center in New York City is badly damaged when a car bomb planted by Islamic terrorists explodes in an underground garage. The bomb leaves six people dead and 1,000 injured. The men carrying out the attack were followers of Umar Abd al-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric who preached in the New York City area.
1993	After a 51-day siege by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, a federal team assaults a compound held by the Branch Davidians, a religious sect charged with hoarding illegal weapons. The Branch Davidians allegedly set the buildings on fire, killing 76 people, including cult leader David Koresh.
1994	DNA Identification Act of 1994 authorizes establishment of NDIS.
1994	The Genetic Privacy Act, the first United States Human Genome Project legislative

	product, proposes regulation of the collection, analysis, storage, and use of DNA samples and genetic information obtained from them. These rules were endorsed by the ELSI Working Group.
1995	Forensic Science Service (U.K.) established the world's first national criminal intelligence DNA database, the National DNA Database.
1995	A study by the Rand Corporation finds that every dollar spent in drug treatment saves society seven dollars in crime, policing, incarceration, and health services.
Apr 19, 1995	A car bomb explodes outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal office building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, collapsing walls and floors, killing 169 people, including 19 children and one person who died in the rescue effort. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are later convicted in the anti-government plot to avenge the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Tex., exactly two years earlier.
1996	The Forensic Science Service (U.K.) merges with the Metropolitan Police Laboratory, London, England.
1996	First computerized searches of the AFIS fingerprint database.
1996	First use of mitochondrial DNA typing evidence in a U.S. trial (Tennessee v. Ware).
1997	The National Center for Human Genome Research (NCHGR) at the National Institutes of Health becomes the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).
Dec 8, 1997	The FBI announces its new National DNA Index System (NDIS) allowing forensic science laboratories to link serial violent crimes to each other and to known sex offenders through the electronic exchange of DNA profiles.
1998	NDIS becomes operational.
1998	FBI and ATF agree to pursue joint development of one system, using only IBIS, and create the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network.
1998	DNA analyses of semen stains on a dress worn by Monica Lewinsky were found to match DNA from a blood sample taken from President Clinton.
1998	DNA fingerprinting used to identify remains of Russian Imperial Romanov family.

1999	The FBI teams with federal, state, and local criminal investigation departments to establish IAFIS, the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. This facility electronically stores the fingerprints and criminal history information of more than 47 million individuals.
1999	Osama bin Laden is added to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list in June, in connection with the U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa.
Jun 23, 1999	FBI personnel travel to Kosovo to assist in the collection of evidence and the examination of forensic materials in support of the prosecution of Slobodan Milosevic and others before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
2000	Debut of the CBS television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Sep 11, 2001	Islamist terrorists mount a coordinated terrorist attack on New York and Washington. The World Trade Center Towers are destroyed, killing nearly 3,000 people. In Washington, a plane slams into the Pentagon, but passengers aboard another hijacked airliner, aware of the other terrorist attacks, fight back. During the struggle for the aircraft, it crashes into a Pennsylvania field, thwarting the terrorist's plans to crash the plane into either the U.S. Capital or White House, but killing all on board.
2001	The FBI dedicates 7,000 of its 11,000 Special Agents and thousands of FBI support personnel to the PENTTBOM investigation. "PENTTBOM" is short for Pentagon, Twin Towers Bombing.
2001	Letters containing a powdered form of Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes anthrax, are mailed by an unknown terrorist or terrorist group (foreign or domestic) to government representatives, members of the news media, and others in the United States. One letter is postmarked to a U.S. senator on October 8, resulting in closure of the Hart Senate building and other government offices and postal facilities. More than 20 cases and five deaths are eventually attributed to the terrorist attack.
Oct 18, 2001	In conjunction with the U. S. Post Office, the FBI offers a reward of __BODY__,000,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person who mailed letters contaminated with anthrax to media organizations and congressional offices.

Oct 26, 2001

President George W. Bush signs the Patriot Act into law, giving the FBI and CIA broader investigatory powers and allowing them to share with one another confidential information about suspected terrorists. Under the act, both agencies can conduct residential searches without a warrant and without the presence of the suspect. The act also allows immediate seizure of personal records. The provisions are not limited to investigating suspected terrorists, but may be used in any criminal investigation related to terrorism. The Patriot Act also grants the FBI and CIA greater latitude in using computer tracking devices to gain access to Internet and phone records. Forensic science becomes more entwined with National Security interests.

2001	Enough closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) are installed in public places in Britain that, on an average day in any large British city, security experts calculate that a person will have over 300 opportunities to be captured on CCTV during the course of normal daily activities.
2002	Cable television network Court TV launches its Forensics in the Classroom program.
Jan 24, 2003	The Office of Homeland Security becomes the Department of Homeland Security.
2004	Total number of DNA profiles in the FBI NDIS database reaches 2,132,470; the total number of forensic profiles is 93,956, and the total number of convicted offender profiles is 2,038,470.