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Study of Patterns
In Western culture, the earliest record of the study of the patterns on human hands comes from 1684. Dr. Nehemiah wrote a paper describing patterns under the microscope on human hands, including the presence of ridges. -
Skin Ridges
Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer described that "the arrangement of skin ridges is never duplicated in two persons." -
Fingerprint Patterns
Jan Evangelist Purkyn described nine distinct fingerprint patterns, including loops, spirals, circles, and double whorls. -
Alphonse Betillon
An assistant clerk in the records in the records office at the Police Station in Paris, created a way to identify criminals. -
Bertillonage
A system that was first used in 1883 to identify a repeating offender. -
Sir Francis Galton
He verified that fingerprints do not change with age -
Classification System
Galton and Sir E.R. Henry, developed the classification system for fingerprints that is still used today in the United States and Europe. -
Ivan Juan Vucetich
He improved fingerprint collection in 1891. He began to note measurements on the identification cards of all arrested persons. -
Sir Edmund Richard Henry
He created a system that divided fingerprint records into groups based on whether they have an arch, whorl, or loop pattern.