The earliest documented incident of a biological agent being used in warfare is in the 6th century BC. The Assyrians, who lived in present-day Iraq, used rye ergot to poison enemy wells. The resulting effects were delusional and paranoid behaviour and even death amongst their attackers. Ergot poisoning causes delusions, paranoia, seizures, twitching and cardiovascular problems that can lead to death. Ergot is a fungus blight that causes ergot poisoning in crops.
The earliest use of apitherapy (the pharmacological use of honeybee products) to treat illnesses was by the ancient Chinese, Greeks and Romans. Greek physician, Galen (129-200 AD) is said to have used honey and bee venom to treat baldness! Bees are still used today as a type of ‘insect acupuncture’, and is particularly popular in the alternative treatment of auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and arthritis. http://www.beelief.com/content.asp?sectionID=35 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apitherapy http://www.wordspy.com/words/apitherapy.asp
Military balloons were first used by the French at the Battle of Fleurus in 1794 for successful reconnaissance observations of their enemy, Austria, when ‘L’Entreprenant’ was used by French Revolutionary troops to watch the movements of the enemy. This was after France’s declaration of war on Austria in April 1792, during the French Revolutionary Wars of 1792–1801. These reconnaissance missions were key to in helping the French ultimately win their war with Austria.
The Disney movie Tron (USA, 1982) was the first major motion feature to fully utilize computer-generated (CG) animation. The movie’s setting – inside a video game – was ideal inspiration for the fledgling CG companies; indeed, the most effective and memorable sequence in the movie is the “lightcycle” race, created by computer companies Triple-I and MAGI (both USA).
The Oscar winning movie Closed Mondays (USA, 1975) – the directorial debut of Will Vinton (USA) – saw the first use of the Claymation process, in which modelling clay is animated using stop-motion. Vinton patented the process and went to create two decades’ of colorful work, including the famous California Raisins and many MTV commercials.
The first time that fingerprint evidence taken from a cadaver and used in court was in 1978, when police used black magnetic powder to lift fingerprints from the left ankle of a deceased female suspected of being sexually assaulted in North Miami Beach, Florida, USA; her dead body was one of three at the scene. The print was matched to those of a known suspect, Stephen William Beattie (USA), who was found guilty on the basis of the fingerprint evidence and sentenced to three consecutive
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The first person to be convicted of a crime using DNA evidence is Robert Melias (UK), who was found guilty of rape and convicted by a British court on 13 November 1988. Soon after in the USA, Tommy Lee Andres of Florida,became the first American convicted based on DNA evidence.
The modern era of forensic anthropology arguably began with the work of Wilton M. Krogman (USA), who popularized the use of facial reconstructions in forensic criminal investigations. By mapping tissue of varying thicknesses to cranial (skull) remains, Krogman was able to build a clay model closely resembling the deceased. Although forensic facial reconstruction – now possible on computer – continues to prove successful, data obtained via this method is not admissible in US courts, as no two completed reconstructions are ever the same.
According to internationally renowned forensic biologist, Mark Benecke (Germany), the study of insects recovered from crime scenes and corpses can be traced back to a 13th-century medico-legal text book entitled Hsi Yuan Lu (The Washing Away of Wrongs) by Sung Tz’u (China), a lawyer and death investigator. When called upon to investigate a fatal stabbing in a rice field, Sung Tz’u asked workers to lay down their sickles; soon afterwards, blow flies were attracted to one particular sickle covered in invisible traces of blood, compelling
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The earliest use of infrared technology in battle was during World War II (1939-45). Electric sniperscopes were mounted on top of rifles and converted infrared light of enemy soldiers into visible light, enabling the shooter to fire accurately in darkness. Three hundred of these sniperscopes were shipped to the Pacific, but were used very little in battles against the Japanese. These sniperscopes had some disadvantages including cumbersome batteries and low range. The USA, UK and Germany were all involved in developing infrared technology for battle.
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