Author Archives: admin

First use of forensic gait analysis evidence in court

1 October 2014 by admin
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The first time that forensic gait analysis (the analysis of a person’s style of walking as a method of identification) has been admissible as evidence in criminal law occurred in the case of R- v – Saunders at The Old Bailey Central Criminal Court, London, UK on 12 July 2000. Consultant Podiatrist Haydn Kelly (UK) was able to identify jewellery thief John Saunders (UK) as the person attempting to rob a shop, from earlier police surveillance footage. Despite Saunders wearing two pairs of trousers, a Continue reading →

First use of military robots in combat

1 October 2014 by admin
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The first time robots were used in ground combat occurred during the war in Afghanistan in July 2002. ‘Hermes’ was deployed ahead of US troops to search a network of caves in Qiqay, Afghanstan, which were a potential hiding place for enemy personnel and weaponry. Hermes, and the other four prototypes, Professor, Thing and Fester, are heavy enough to trigger mines (19 kg, 42 lbs), tall enough to trip booby-traps at foot level (30 cm, 1 ft) and long enough to carry 12 cameras, a Continue reading →

First use of marine mammals in defence

1 October 2014 by admin
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The earliest use of marine mammals in active military defence was during the Vietnam War between 1970–71, when five US Navy bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were sent to Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam to defend US military boats from enemy swimmers. This followed on from the first successful open-sea military exercise using a dolphin, near La Jolla, California, USA in 1965. ‘Tuffy’ dove 60 m (200 ft) to deliver supplies to Sea Lab II installation and also guided swimmers to safety. The animals are used as Continue reading →

First use of PlayStations as military training equipment

1 October 2014 by admin
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The British Royal Navy is the first service organization to use Sony PlayStations for military use. Marine engineering technicians have been provided with the PlayStations to enable them to use study packages produced by the Maritime Warfare School at HMS Collingwood, Fareham, UK. So far, the school has bought 230 consoles, in recognition of the arrival of a generation that no longer naturally studies from books.

First use of Nintendo for criminal investigation

1 October 2014 by admin
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Japanese police have used Nintendo Wii software to generate a wanted post of a hit and run suspect. Usually police authorities use police artists or photofit software for such purposes. However, by selecting a range of face shapes, hairstyles, ears and other features using the Nintendo “Mii” feature, the police were able to create the impression of a young man with hair and sunglasses to use on a wanted poster at the scene of the car accident next to a photo of the type of Continue reading →

First use of morphing

1 October 2014 by admin
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The Ron Howard/George Lucas (both USA) movie Willow (USA, 1988) was the first to make credible use of “morphing”, in which one image is metamorphosed seamlessly into another. The software used for the effect – in which a sorceress morphs into animals – was written for Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) by Doug Smyth (USA).

First use of rockets

1 October 2014 by admin
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Propelled by gunpowder, `flying fireworks’, (charcoal-saltpetre-sulfur), were described by Zeng Gongliang of China in 1042. War rockets originated in 1245 near Hangzhou, China (the capital of China between 1127 and 1278) However the first use of true rockets was reported in 1232 when the Chinese and Mongols were at war with each other. During the battle of Kai-Keng, the Chinese repelled the Mongol invaders by a barrage of ‘arrows of flying fire’.

First use of procedural generation in a video game

1 October 2014 by admin
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Elite was the first game to feature a procedurally generated world, while Frontier: Elite II was the first game to feature procedurally generated star systems. Frontier: First Encounters was the first game to contain procedurally generated terrain and textures. Procedural Generation uses random inputs to a computer ‘procedure’ to create something unique that also adheres to certain rules, such as Elite II’s star systems. These were generated by the game aggregating the mass of material within an early solar system into planets and moons that Continue reading →

First use of steganography

1 October 2014 by admin
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Dating back to the 5th century BC, steganography is one of the oldest methods of concealing secret information. According to the classical author Herodotus, it was first used by the tyrant Histiaeus, who shaved the head of a servant before tattooing a message on the poor man’s scalp. When the hair had grown back, the servant was sent to deliver his message – a warning of impending attack by the presumably slow-moving Persian army – which was revealed when the servant’s head was once more Continue reading →

First use of skiing in military missions

1 October 2014 by admin
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The earliest recorded military use of skiing was at the Battle of Isen, near Oslo, Norway in 1200, when the Norwegians undertook reconnaissance on skis. Ski troops were also used in Sweden in 1452, and from the 15th through the 17th century, skis were used in warfare in Finland, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Captain Jens Emmahausen wrote the first skiing manual for Norwegians in 1733. From 1767 there have been military ski competitions with monetary prizes. Information from Archives (e.g. 1993). Submitted for use Continue reading →