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1750 BCE
Archeologist
They found fingerprints in clay tablets -
200 BCE
China
Handprints were used as evidence during burglary investigations during the Qin Dynasty. This was done using clay seals bearing friction ridge impressions. -
Dr. Nehemiah Grew.
Friction ridge skin observations were first published in "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London" by Dr. Nehemiah Grew. Also done in "Anatomy of the Human Body" by Govard Bidloo. In Marcello Malpighi's treatise, fingerprint ridges, spirals and loops are mentioned -
J. C. A. Mayer
German anatomist and doctor J. C. A. Mayer wrote the book Anatomical Copper-plates with Appropriate Explanations containing drawings of friction ridge skin patterns. Mayer was the first to declare that friction ridge skin is unique. -
Sir William James Herschel
Sir William James Herschel used fingerprints on native contracts. Thus, the first wide-scale, modern-day use of fingerprints was predicated, not upon scientific evidence, but upon superstitious beliefs. Sir William Herschel's private conviction that all fingerprints were unique to the individual, as well as permanent throughout that individual's life, inspired him to expand their use.