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1792 BCE
Clay Tablet Prints
Ancient cultures used fingerprints as markings. Archaeologists discovered fingerprints pressed into clay tablet contracts -
Human Hand Patterns
Dr. Nehemiah wrote a paper describing the patterns he saw on human hands under a microscope. -
Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer
Johann followed Dr. Nehemiah and described that the arrangement of skin ridges is never duplicated in two persons. -
Sir Francis Galton
He verified the fact that fingerprints never change, he also worked with Sir E. R. Henry, to develop the classification system for fingerprints. -
Jan Evangelist Purkyn
Described nine distinct finger patterns, including loops, spirals, circles, and double whorls. -
Sir William Herschel
Collected fingerprints and noted that patterns were unique to each person and were not altered by age. -
Alphonse Bertillon
Assistant clerk in the police office, he created a way to identify criminals. -
Ivan (Juan) Vucetich
He improved fingerprint collection and began to note measurements on the identification cards on all arrested persons. He also added the collection of all 10 fingerprint impressions. -
Sir Edmund Richard Henry
Created an organization system for fingerprints of a certain type for each finger. Each fingerprint card in the system was imprinted with all ten fingerprints of a person and marked with individual characteristics called a ten card. -
Army
The U.S. Army started using fingerprints in order to identify people.
