Think about how critical the internet is and the countless number of applications/games/programs we use that wouldn’t be available without the internet in the first place. It might shock you to know that the famous Nikola Tesla wrote about a world-wide, wireless communication network back in the early 1900’s. Still, the first practical schematics for the internet would not arrive until the early 1960s, when MIT’s J.C.R. Licklider popularized the idea of an “Intergalactic Network” of computers. I guess Al Gore didn't know that someone else had beaten him to the punch. We have short memories so people who deserve for us to know about them, are forgotten as time goes by.
This man was definitely one of my favorites: Eugène-François Vidocq (1775 – 1857), was a French criminal turned criminalist whose life story inspired several writers, including Victor Hugo and Edgar Allan Poe. The former criminal became the founder and first director of a crime-detection agency (kind of like independent crime scene investigators), and the first private detective agency. Vidocq is considered the father of modern criminology. He introduced criminal profiling and the use of ballistic testing. He established plain clothes policemen (basically undercover).
So anyhow, as you know from some of my previous posts, I have a soft spot for people who deserve legacies. I don’t want them forgotten. I thought you should know about Mr. Vidocq because the groundwork he laid in criminal investigating and policing in general, is amazing. So, when you’re watching shows like “Criminal Minds, and “NCIS,” think Vidocq. 😊