A. On the Genetic Side
| Name | Country | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mendel | Austria | 1865 | Formulates laws of genetics |
| Miescher | Switzerland | 1869 | Discovers DNA |
| Landsteiner | Austria | 1901 | Discovers blood groups |
| Hardy and Weinberg | U.K. and Germany | 1908 | Independently describe the Hardy–Weinberg law |
| Avery, McCarty and McLeod | U.S. | 1944 | Demonstrate that DNA is the genetic material |
| Watson, Crick, Wilkins, and Franklin | U.K. | 1953 | Elucidate the structure of DNA |
| Kan and Dozy | U.S. | 1978 | Use restriction enzymes to elucidate DNA polymorphism |
| Botstein and White | U.S. | 1980 | Use RFLP to construct linkage map |
| Mullis | U.S. | 1983 | Develops PCR |
| Cann, Brown and Wilson | U.S. | 1984 | Use mtDNA RFLP in describing human evolution |
| Edwards, Hammond, Jin, Caskey, and Chakraborky | U.S. | 1992 | Describe genetic STR variation |
B. On the Forensic Side
| Name | Country | Year | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Faulds | Scotland | 1880 | Suggests that fingerprints can be used as a means of identification |
| Beam and Freak | U.K. | 1915 | Propose a modified version of the confirmatory test for blood |
| Locard | France | 1920 | Describes “le principe de l’échange” |
| Harris | U.K. | 1966 | Describes human allozyme polymorphism |
| Jeffreys | U.K. | 1985 | Introduces forensic DNA fingerprinting |
| First National Research Council Report (NCR I) | U.S. | 1992 | Sets standards for DNA testing |
| FBI | U.S. | 1993 | Begins the development of the CODIS DNA database |
| NRC II | N/A | 1996 | Is published because of concerns generated by NRC I |
| Ware vs. Tennessee | U.S. | 1996 | First use of mtDNA in a U.S. court |
| CODIS | U.S. | 1996 | The 13 STR loci for CODIS are set |
| PE Biosystems and Promega | U.S. | 1999 | Begin marketing multiplex kits for forensic analysis |