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200 BCE
Qin Dynasty's First Discovery of Fingerprints
Chinese records from the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) include details about using handprints as evidence during burglary investigations. -
Jan Evangelista Purkyně makes theory of Fingerprint Patterns used for Identification
In 1823, Jan Evangelista Purkyně, anatomy professor at the University of Breslau, published his thesis discussing nine fingerprint patterns. Purkinje made no mention of the value of fingerprints for personal identification. Purkinje is referred to in most English language publications as John Evangelist Purkinje. -
Alvarez & Galton make the First Federal Fingerprint Identification
At Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1892, Inspector Eduardo Alvarez made the first criminal fingerprint identification. He was able to identify Francisca Rojas, a woman who murdered her two sons and cut her own throat in an attempt to place blame on another. Her bloody print was left on a door post, proving her identity as the murderer. Alvarez was trained by Juan Vucetich. -
Juan Vucetich creates a Fingerprint Filing Classification System for Police
Juan Vucetich, an Argentine Police Official, began the first fingerprint files based on Galton pattern types. At first, he included the Bertillon System with the files. -
India Incorporates First Fingerprint Criminal Records System
The Council of the Governor General of India approved a committee report that fingerprints should be used for the classification of criminal records. Later that year, the Calcutta (now Kolkata) Anthropometric Bureau became the world's first Fingerprint Bureau. -
U.S. Army Begins using Fingerprints
U.S. Department of Justice forms the Bureau of Criminal Identification in Washington, DC to provide a centralized reference collection of fingerprint cards. -
First Electronic Encoding of Fingerprints
Hakon Jrgensen with the Copenhagen, Denmark Police lectures about the distant identification of fingerprints at the International Police Conference in Monaco. The process involved encoding fingerprint features for transmission to distant offices facilitating identification through electronic communications. -
Establishment of the Identification Division of the FBI
An act of congress established the Identification Division of the FBI. The IACP's Bureau of Criminal Identification fingerprint repository and the US Justice Department's Bureau of Criminal Identification fingerprint repository were consolidated to form the nucleus of the FBI Identification Division fingerprint files (originally including a total of 810,188 fingerprint cards). -
World's First Certification Program for Fingerprint Experts is Established
In New Orleans, Louisiana, members attending the 62nd Annual Conference of the International Association for Identification (IAI) voted to establish the world's first certification program for fingerprint experts. -
A New Scientific Discovery is declared by 11 Countries
At the International Symposium on Latent Fingerprint Detection and Identification, the Neurim Declaration was issued. The declaration states "No scientific basis exists for requiring that a pre-determined minimum number of friction ridge features must be present in two impression in order to establish a positive identification." The declaration was unanimously approved by all present, and later, signed by 28 persons from the 11 countries.
