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Period: 1792 BCE to 1750 BCE
Fingerprints from Babylon
Archaeologists have found fingerprints pressed into the clay tablet contracts of Babylonians. -
Earliest Record of Study
Dr. Nehemiah wrote a paper describing the patterns he saw on human hands under the microscope, including the presence of ridges. -
Unique Fingerprints
Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer followed Dr. Nehemiah's work by stating that "the arrangements of skin ridges is never duplicated in two persons." -
Period: to
Sir Francis Galton
Sir Francis Galton verified that fingerprints do not change with age. -
Pattern Discoveries
Jan Evangelist Purkyn described nine distinct fingerprint patterns, including loops, spirals, circles, and double whorls. -
Collecting Fingerprints
Sir William Herschel began collecting fingerprints and found that patterns were unique to each person and could not be altered by age. -
Alphonse Bertillon
Alphonse Bertillon, an assistant clerk in the records office at the police station in Paris, created a system called Bertillonage, to identify criminals. -
The First Use of Bertillonage
Bertillonage was used for the first time to identify a repeating offender. -
Classification System
Galton and Sir E. R. Henry developed the classification system for fingerprints that is still in use today in the US and Europe. -
First Murder Solved with Fingerprints
Bertillon was credited with solving the first murder using fingerprints.
