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Microtrace Lineage
 

The Microtrace Lineage

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The fields of chemical microscopy and forensic science both have rich histories that can be traced through the scientists that developed these fields.  With technological innovation, many of the methods developed by these pioneers have been nearly forgotten, replaced by technological innovations of the present.  Although Microtrace continues to develop applications for the newest technologies; modern instrumental methods are often not suitable for the types of samples we encounter.  In fact, much of our casework comes to us when the application of modern techniques fails. Some of the earliest microchemical methods, developed over a century ago, can be applied to smaller samples, be more sensitive and provide more specific information in a shorter amount of time than the newest technology. The same is true for the polarized light microscope, an instrument rarely found in forensic or industrial laboratories which can provide morphological and structural information that can make sample identification instantaneously, in some cases.

Shown below are our teacher's teachers, the forefathers of forensic science and chemical microscopy.  Please click on their photos to read about them and their achievements.

Chemical Microscopy		Forensic Microscopy
Heinrich Behrens (1842-1905)
		Edmond Locard (1877-1966)
	Emile Monnin Chamot (1868-1950)
		Max Frei-Sulzer
	Walter C. McCrone (1916-2002)
Skip with Lucy and Walter McCrone		Skip with Max Frei
Other Noteable Microscopists and Chemists
Albert Schneider (1863-1928)		Edward Oscar Heinrich (1881-1953)

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