Archibald Reiss

Who was Archibald Reiss?

Dr Archibald Rudolph Reiss was a publicist, a chemist, a professor at the University of Lausanne and a famous forensic scientist.

His family was in the agriculture and wine business. He was 8th child of 10, son of Ferdinand Reiss, landowner and Pauline Sabine Anna Gabriele Seutter von Loetzen. After finishing highschool in Germany, he 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 programme and of the "Institut de police scientifique" at the University of Lausanne. He published two major forensic science books "Photographie judiciaire", Mendel, Paris, in 1903 and the first part of his major contribution "Manuel de police scientifique. I Vols et homicides", Payot, Lausanne and Acan, Paris, in 1911. The Institute he created has celebrates 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.