Science is Fun Fridays!
While working in a police station in Paris, Alphonse Bertillon helped develop the idea of forensic science.
Above he is testing the mugshot, as a way to keep track of criminals. Police had been using photographs already, but they were organized by name, which a criminal could change, and they had collected over 80,000 to have to sort through.
In 1879, Bertillon was a low-level clerk in the department, and he recognized the need for a better system. He turned to the science of human measurements, which could not be altered. He resolved to collect 11 unique measurements, including head circumference, arm span, and foot and finger length. (Some data would not work in the case of a minor though, who may still be growing).
Later, they would include photographs of individual features, as seen in this chart from 1909.
Bertillon used his system to sort through open cases and was able to track down more than 241 repeat offenders.
He also became the first to photograph a crime scene before investigators could contaminate it. He employed grids to record the dimensions of the scene and the objects in it.
The collection of information was tedious, and many departments didn't want to give the time. Eventually fingerprinting would overtake Bertillon's method, but the mugshots remain, as well as crime scene photography.
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