In 1938, Rolla Neil Harger of Indiana University School of Medicine collaborated with Robert Borkenstein of the Indiana State Police Crime Laboratory to develop the “Drunkometer,” the first device capable of measuring the level of alcohol on one’s breath, from which the blood-alcohol level could be estimated. 

In 1954, Borkenstein, who had collaborated with Harger on the Drunkometer, harnessed photometry and chemical oxidation to fashion the “Breathalyzer,” a more portable device that more readily lent itself to use in enforcement.