Abstract:

Selected for inclusion in the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Library at Quantico, VA.

Introduction

World of Forensic Science portrays the vast scope and influence of modern forensic science. From prescientific human fascination with the causes, manner, and circumstances of death, to the increasingly vital role of forensics science in law, security, and global economic and health issues, World of Forensic Science contains articles dedicated to providing insight into the science, applications, and importance of forensics.

As a science, forensics grew lockstep along with advances in science during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The interval from scientific invention to forensic application narrowed as forensic scientists borrowed from the latest innovations of virtually every field of science to solve mysteries. However, just as advances in microscopes and atomic science allowed forensic applications to investigate causes of crimes at the most minute molecular and cellular level, the breath of applications of forensic science underwent exponential expansion. In addition to solving local crime, the next global pandemic or bioterrorist attack might well be first detected by a forensic scientist initially investigating a mysterious death... (continued) K. Lee Lerner & Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, editors. Santa Rosa Island, Pensacola, Florida. April, 2005