History of Fingerprints

By hondacivicboiii83
  • 220 BCE

    Ancient Chinese use fingerprints

  • Period: 200 BCE to 1400

    Prehistoric

  • 1400

    Jaamehol-Tawarikh includes comments about identifying persons from fingerprints

  • Nehemiah Grew documents friction ridge skin observations

  • Govard Bidloo documents friction ridge skin details

  • Johann Mayer published drawings of friction ridge skin details

  • Jan Purkinje publishes thesis detailing nine patterns

  • The English use fingerprints

  • Latent prints can be produced by iodine fuming

  • Hand marks under microscope

  • Thompson uses his own thumbprint to prevent forgery

  • Bertillon System

  • Vucetich uses galton pattern types for fingerprint files

  • Alvarez and Galton

    Alvarez makes the first fingerprint identification system. Galton publishes a book establishing the importance of fingerprints in identification.

  • Fingerprint Branch at Metropolitan Police is formed

  • New York uses fingerprints for ID

  • US Army uses fingerpints

  • FBI Identification Division is formed

  • Interpol's AFIS exceeds 150,000 sets of unique prints

  • Department of Homeland Security OBIM contains over 120 million sets of unique prints