Top Ten Most Famous Forensic Scientists

6. William Maples: 

William Maples made his mark studying the remains of famous historical figures, including The Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick, the dead family of Czar Nicholas II, and Zachary Taylor, one of the U.S. presidents. His book, Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist shed light on the field of forensic science, and what could be learned from studying dead remains. He is known for his ability to help solve cases that might have remained unsolved.

Top Ten Most Famous Forensic Scientists

7. Clea Koff: “The Bone Woman,” 

Clea Koff, is well-known for her work on behalf of the United Nations. She worked for the Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and also for the tribal for the formal Yugoslavia. She is a well-known forensic anthropologist who used her skills to help bring some of the perpetrators of genocide to trial. Her autobiography is The Bone Woman: Among the dead in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Croatia. She also founded the Missing Persons Identification Resource Center that focuses on helping families match up with the U.S. Coroner’s Office in order to identify bodies that are so for unidentified.

Seven Ways To Die Featured in Atlanta Magazine!

SEVEN WAYS TO DIE by William Diehl with Kenneth John Atchity AEI/Story Merchant Books Before he died in 2006, Diehl (Sharky's Machine and Primal Fear) had written more than 400 pages of his tenth novel, about a captain in the NYPD on the trail of a serial killer in Manhattan. Using an outline and notes that Diehl left behind, Atchity finished the thriller, staying very true to the fast-paced, screenplay-ready plot that was the author's trademark. It's a fitting posthumous tribute to the former journalist-and first managing editor of Atlanta magazine who left his day job in his fifties to pursue his dream of writing fiction.

 FIRST LOOK: As always his psyche was momentarily askew. He performed each autopsy compassionately. They were constant reminders of the finite line between life and death, between the human body and a corpse without a soul.

Top Ten Most Famous Forensic Scientists

8. Cyril Wecht: 

Cyril Wecht is one of the most interesting forensic scientists alive today. He has consulted on a number of high profile cases, including speculation about the death of president John Kennedy. He has also shared thoughts on Vincent Foster, Anna Nicole Smith and Sharon Tate. He was also a consultant in the Branch Davidian case. He does private consultations, and was even charged with fraud at one point, though those charges were dropped. Wecht was concertmaster at the University of Pittsburgh (he wanted to be a musician), but he went on to get his M.D. and to serve as a coroner.

Top Ten Most Famous Forensic Scientists

9. Henry Lee: 

Known for his work on the JonBenét Ramsey case, as well as the Laci Peterson case, Henry Lee is almost as high profile as they come. He even worked on the O.J. Simpson case, consulted on the Vincent Foster case, and was asked for insights in the D.C. sniper shootings. He was born in China, but fled with his family to Taiwan. He has a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and came to the U.S. specifically to study Forensic Science. The main blot on his career is that he is accused of evidence tampering in the Phil Spector case.

Top Ten Most Famous Forensic Scientists

10. Michael Baden:

 As the host of the HBO show Autopsy, many people recognize Michael Baden. He is also an author, writing popular non-fiction books about his work as a coroner and board certified forensic pathologist. He contributes to Fox News as an expert, and is a M.D. He has looked into past cases of murder, including those of John Belushi, JFK,  Czar Nicholas II and his family, and looked into the cases of Phil Spector and O.J. Simpson. (The overlap on such cases is common; many forensic experts often go over the same cases — especially if the cases are famous. Baden is a consulting pathologist with a private practice, as well as providing expert witness testimony in court, and professional analysis on television. For one year, he was the Chief Medical Examiner for New York City.

Seven Ways to Die Reader's Review

By Mary C 

Loved this book. It brought me to places I'd never been, the back alleys of Manhattan, the wilds of Central Park, not to mention the wolves and Nez Perce reservation. I didn't know murder could be such a sick work of art, and respect the detectives who analyze it and bring the offenders to justice.