THE MOTHER OF FORENSIC SCIENCE Frances Glessner Lee

What'sHerName

Dr. Katie Nelson and Olivia Meikle

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.8 • 538 Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Frances Glessner Lee was 52 years old when she discovered the mission that would become her legacy – to “convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth.” After five decades as a prominent social hostess (and innovative part-time artist) this indomitable woman took on centuries of entrenched medical and legal tradition to become the Mother of Forensic Science. And she did it – at least partially – with dollhouses?! Olivia speaks to guest Bruce Goldfarb, author of 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Invented Modern Forensics. Experience a 360 degree virtual tour of the Nutshell Studies courtesy of the Smithsonian’s 2017 exhibition, or plan a visit to the Glessner House Museum in Chicago or The Rocks in New Hampshire. Guest Bruce Goldfarb is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, USA Today, Baltimore magazine, American Archaeology, American Health and many other publications. Since 2012 Bruce has served as executive assistant to the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Maryland. He is public information officer for the OCME and curator of the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. His first book of popular nonfiction is 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics. Music for this episode was provided by Esther Abrami, Kevin MacLeod, Brian Bolger, Amanda Setlik Wilson, and the MIT Symphony Orchestra. Want to help us “make history”? Become a Patron or Donate here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Akamai Cloud, GPUs for Agenic AI. Bring AI inferencing closer to users everywhere. Get started at
0:06.5	acamai.com slash GPU. This episode is also sponsored by our Patreon supporters, Jessica Smith, Rachel K,
0:14.4	Jan Alise Cannon, Jamie Lang, Jill Harrigan, Maria Carla Sanchez, Heather McKinnon, Valerie Jacobson, Chantelle Oliver,
0:23.5	Ellie MacDonald, Caitlin McTaggart, Lindsay Cummings, Lisa Ackoine, Lauren McAtee, Rue Doregon, and Rachel Tiven.
0:31.3	Huge thanks to all our patrons. Hi, Katie.
0:43.5	Hi, Olivia.
0:44.5	It seems pretty obvious that forensics is one of the most popular topics in modern U.S. crime media, media in general.
0:58.2	Absolutely.
0:59.7	Every cop TV show, every law TV show, every true crime podcast.
1:05.0	It seems like they are never ending.
1:07.9	But who started it?
1:10.7	Uh, I get say, Christy.
1:15.1	Well, Poirot didn't know the first thing about forensics.
1:18.8	He pooed forensics, did he?
1:21.2	He didn't need any such silly things as evidence.
1:25.8	He just needed his little gray cells.
1:28.1	I see.
1:29.5	But Sherlock Holmes was all about.
1:31.5	Oh, there you go.
1:32.6	Forensics, right?
1:33.5	Yeah, right.
1:34.4	I think a lot of people know the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes was actually one of Arthur Conan Doyle's
	...

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