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221 BCE
200 Bc - China
Beginning from the Qin Dynasty, burglary investigations were solved using the fingerprints found at the scene by pressing them onto clay. -
1600's - Europe
Scientists began to notice the spirals, ridges, and loops on the fingers. Scientists like Dr. Nehemiah Grew, who was the first to publish a newspaper about friction ridge skin observations. -
1823 - Purkinje
Jan Evangelista Purkinje was anatomy professor who published the discussion of nine different fingerprint patterns. -
1858 - Herschel
Sir William James Herschel was the first to use fingerprints on native contracts so people wouldn't be able to fake his signature. -
1880 - Faulds
After noticing a greasy fingerprint on an alcohol bottle, Dr. Henry Faulds decided to take up the study of skin furrows where he ended up recognizing the relationship fingerprints had with identification and classification. -
1892 - Vucetich
Juan Vucetich was the first to make a criminal fingerprint identification. He identified Francisca Rojas who murdered her two sons and cut her own throat in attempt to blame another. They found out by her bloody fingerprint left on a door post at the scene. -
1892 - Galton
Sir Francis Galton discovered that fingerprints were not useful to determine someone intelligence or genetic history. He scientifically proved what Herschel and Faulds already knew, that fingerprints do not change and that every individual has a different fingerprint. -
1903 - New York
The first systematic use of fingerprints began in The New York State Prison. -
1904 - Kansas
America's 1st national fingerprint repository was created by the International Association of Chiefs of Police naming it the National Bureau of Criminal Identification. -
1905
By 1905, the U.S. Army began using fingerprints. -
1907
By 1907, the Navy began using fingerprints. -
1908
The Marine Corps began using fingerprints by 1908. -
1924
An act of congress established Identification Division of the FBI. The IACP's National Bureau of Criminal Identification and the US Justice Department's Bureau of Criminal Identification decided to form the nucleus of the FBI fingerprint files. Ever since, national fingerprint support has been made confidential by law enforcement. -
2016 - World's Largest Database
The largest fingerprint system is run by the Unique Identification Authority of India which enables rapid identification that is impossible to accomplish with other fingerprint technology. -
2016 - America's Largest Databases
The Department of Homeland Security US Visit Program operates one of the largest AFIS repository in America. The FBI is expanding their identification technology so they can include information of the palm, face, and iris.
