Rodolphe Archibald Reiss

Rodolphe Archibald Reiss (b. 1875, Germany – 1929, Yugoslavia) was a publicist, a chemist, a professor at the University of Lausanne and a famous forensic scientist. After finishing high school in Germany, Reiss went to Switzerland for his studies. He had received a Ph.D. in chemistry at the age of 22 and was an expert in photography and forensic science. In 1906 he was appointed a professor of forensic science at the University of Lausanne. In 1909, he was the founder of the first academic forensic science program and of the Institut de police scientifique (Institute of forensic science) at the University of Lausanne. He published two major forensic science books Photographie judiciaire (Forensic photography), Mendel, Paris, in 1903 and the first part of his major contribution Manuel de police scientifique. I Vols et homicides (Handbook of forensic science I: Thefts and homicides), Payot, Lausanne and Acan, Paris, 1911. The Institute he created celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2009 and has grown to become a major school, Ecole des sciences criminelles, that includes forensic science, criminology and criminal law within the Faculty of Law and Criminal Justice of the University of Lausanne.