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1792 BCE
Babylon Fingerprinting
Archaeologists discovered fingerprints that were pressed in clay tablet contracts from this time period -
Dr. Nehemiah
The earliest record of the study of human hand patterns came from Nehemiah. He wrote a paper describing patterns on hands under a microscope. -
Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer
Claimed that "the arrangement of skin ridges is never duplicated in two persons." He was the first scientists to recognize this fact. -
Jan Evangelist Purkyn
He described nine distinct fingerprint patterns including loops, spirals, circles, and double whorls. -
Sir William Herschel
He collected fingerprints and noted that the patterns were unique and weren't altered by age. -
Alphonse Bertillion
He created a way to identify criminals. His system is called Bertillonage. It was first used in 1883 to identify a repeating offender. -
Ivan Vucetich
He improved the fingerprint collection and devised his own fingerprint classification system. He invented a better way of taking impressions. -
Sir Edmund Richard Henry
He created a system that divided fingerprint records into groups based on their patterns. They put them on a ten card. -
Sir Francis Galton
He was credited with solving the first murder using fingerprints. He was able to verify that fingerprints don not change with age. -
AFIS Created
The Automated Fingerprint Identification System uses digital imaging technology to analyse fingerprint data. This was originally used in the FBI.
