Ralph F. Turner, a Criminal Forensic Scientist Pioneer

Ralph F. Turner, a Criminal Forensic Scientist Pioneer

The book discusses the pioneering contributions of Ralph Turner to the field of forensic science. He was a founder of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the leading professional organization in the field. His work in developing standards for driving and alcohol was also the basis for drunk driving laws in the United States. Turner established the Crime Laboratory at the Kansas City Police Department in the 1930s and ‘40s, before moving to Michigan State University, where he helped establish the School of Criminal Justice, one of the top such programs in the United States. Along with Michigan State University, he worked in South Vietnam on a highly controversial effort to support the South Vietnamese government. He was also one of the first persons to question the Warren Commission Report on the assassination of President Kennedy and was on the Robert F. Kennedy review panel. Frederick L. Honhart received his PhD in American History from Case-Western Reserve University, USA, in 1972. After two years at the Ohio Historical Society, he came to Michigan State University in 1974, where he served as Assistant and then Director of the University Archives and Historical Collections until his retirement in 2009. He is a winner of the Society of American Archivists C. F. W. Coker Prize for Archival Description, and a Fellow of the same society. He developed the first micro-computer system to use the USMARC descriptive format for archival and manuscript records. In addition to archival publications, he has written on historical subjects and the history of unlimited hydroplane racing. He was a member and President (2004-2006) of the Section on University and Research Institution Archives of the International Council on Archives.