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Archeologists found fingerprints pressed into clay tablets in Babylon. -
Chinese historians found finger and palm prints pressed into clay and wood writing surfaces. -
The earliest records of the study of the human hands in Western culture. -
He wrote a paper describing the patterns that he saw in human hands under a microscope. -
First person to explain that the "pattern of skin ridges is never duplicated in two persons" -
Described nine distinct fingerprint patterns including loops, spirals, and double whorls. -
Purkinje published his thesis discussing nine fingerprint patterns but made no mention of the value of fingerprints for personal identification. -
He began collecting fingerprints and noted that the patterns were unique to each person and were not altered by age. -
Thomas Taylor proposed that finger and palm prints left on any object might be used to solve crimes. -
He began his observations of fingerprints as a means of identification in the 1880's.