Fingerprint Timeline

By juliam5702

  • Fingerprints Discovered

    Fingerprints Discovered
    Archaeologists discovered fingerprints pressed into clay tablet contract dating back to 1792-1750 B.C. in Babylon.

  • Arrangement of Skin Ridges

    Arrangement of Skin Ridges
    Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer described that "the arrangement of skin ridges is never duplicated in two persons."

  • Jan Evangelist Purkyn

    Jan Evangelist Purkyn
    Jan Evangelist Purkyn described nine distinct fingerprint patterns, including loops, spirals, circles, and double whirls.

  • Identify Criminals

    Identify Criminals
    Alphonse Bertillion, who was an assistant clerk in the records office at the Police Station in Paris, created a way to identify criminals.

  • Bertillonage

    Bertillonage
    The system created by Alphonse Bertillon called Bertillonage was first used then to identify a repeating offender.

  • Classification System

    Classification System
    Sir Francis Galton and Sir E. R. Henry developed the classification system for fingerprints that is still in use today in the United States and Europe.

  • Ivan (Juan) Vucetich

    Ivan (Juan) Vucetich
    Ivan (Juan) Vucetich improved fingerprint collection. He began to note measurements on the identification cards of all arrested persons, as well as adding all 10 fingerprints.

  • Sir Edmund Richard Henry

    Sir Edmund Richard Henry
    Created a system that divided fingerprint records into groups based on whether they have an arch, whorl, or loop pattern.

  • Murder

    Murder
    Bertillon was credited with solving the first murder using fingerprints.

  • AFIS

    AFIS
    Automated fingerprint identification systems used for criminal identification have become central to the work of police and other law enforcement around the world.