Forensic metrology: a new application field for measurement experts across techniques and ethics

The identification of the culprit of a crime has always represented a challenge, not only for the police, the jury and the judge, but also for the general public. It is not by chance that thrillers have always been very popular and successful books, especially those reporting the exploits of detectives who identify the culprit by means of strict logic, scientific knowledge, and careful observation of reality starting at the scene of the crime. Since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle invented Sherlock Holmes, the elective way to solve a crime, at least in thrillers, has been through science and logic. The most famous thriller detectives, such as Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe, followed this way, enriching it with their own original interpretation.