Edmond Locard

Edmond Locard =
Born	(1877-11-13)13 November 1877 Saint-Chamond, France
Died	4 May 1966(1966-05-04) (aged 88)
Residence	Lyon, France
Citizenship	French
Nationality	French
Fields	Forensic science, Public health
Known for	First police laboratoy, Locard's exchange principle, Sherlock Holmes of France
Influences	Alexandre Lacassagne
Influenced	Georges Simenon

Forensic science
Physiological sciences
Forensic anthropology Forensic archaeology Forensic odontology Forensic entomology Forensic pathology Forensic botany Forensic biology DNA profiling Bloodstain pattern analysis Forensic chemistry Forensic osteology
Social sciences
Forensic psychology Forensic psychiatry
Forensic criminalistics
Ballistics Ballistic fingerprinting Body identification Fingerprint analysis Forensic accounting Forensic arts Forensic footwear evidence Forensic toxicology Gloveprint analysis Questioned document examination Vein matching
Digital forensics
Computer forensics Forensic data analysis Database forensics Mobile device forensics Network forensics Forensic video Forensic audio
Related disciplines
Fire investigation Fire accelerant detection Forensic engineering Forensic linguistics Forensic materials engineering Forensic polymer engineering Vehicular accident reconstruction
People
William M. Bass George W. Gill Richard Jantz Edmond Locard Douglas W. Owsley Auguste Ambroise Tardieu Juan Vucetich
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Dr. Edmond Locard (13 December 1877 – 4 May 1966) was a pioneer in forensic science who became known as the Sherlock Holmes of France. He formulated the basic principle of forensic science: "Every contact leaves a trace". This became known as Locard's exchange principle.

Locard studied medicine and law at Lyon, eventually becoming the assistant of Alexandre Lacassagne, a criminologist and professor. He held this post until 1910, when he began the foundation of his criminal laboratory. He produced a monumental, seven-volume work, Traité de Criminalistique. He continued with his research until his death in 1966.

In 1910 Locard succeeded in persuading the Police Department of Lyon (France) to give him two attic rooms and two assistants, to start what became the first police laboratory. He was a pioneer.

The young Georges Simenon, later to become a well-known detective writer, is known to have attended some Locard lectures in 1919 or 1920.

Quotation

"Wherever he steps, wherever he touches, whatever he leaves, even without consciousness, will serve as a silent witness against him his fingerprints or his footprints, but his hair, the fibers from his clothes, the glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or semen he deposits or collects. All of these and more, bear mute witness against him. This is evidence that does not forget. It is not confused by the excitement of the moment. It is not absent because human witnesses are. It is factual evidence. Physical evidence cannot be wrong, it cannot perjure itself, it cannot be wholly absent. Only human failure to find it, study and understand it, can diminish its value." - Paul L. Kirk. 1953. Crime investigation: physical evidence and the police laboratory. Interscience Publishers, Inc.: New York.

Source

• The Illustrated guide to Forensics - True Crime Scene Investigations By Dr Zakaria Erzinclioglu