History

Brief History of Fingerprint Identification

(Click on Camera Icon to View a Photo)

Pre-historic picture writing of a hand with ridge patterns was discovered in Nova Scotia.

In ancient Babylon, fingerprints were used on clay tablets for business transactions.
In ancient China, thumb prints were found on clay seals.
In Peru, aerial photographs have exposed a huge ancient drawing which can only be accurately viewed from the air. I have exhibited one of these photos to the International Association for Identification and suggested it as a "possible" fingerprint pattern.

In 14th century Persia, various official government papers had fingerprints (impressions), and one government official, a doctor, observed that no two fingerprints were exactly alike.

Marcello Malpighi - 1686
In 1686, Marcello Malpighi, a professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, noted in his treaties; ridges, spirals and loops in fingerprints. He made no mention of their value as a tool for individual identification.
A layer of skin was named after him; "Malpighi" layer, which is approximately 1.8mm thick.

John Evangelist Purkinji - 1823

In 1923, John Evangelist Purkinji, a professor of anatomy at the University of Breslau, published his thesis discussing 9 fingerprint patterns, but he too made no mention of the value of fingerprints for personal identification.

Sir William Hershel - 1877

In 1856, Sir William Hershel, Chief Administrative Office, Bengal India, first used fingerprints on native contracts.

Dr. Henry Faulds - 1880

In 1880, Dr. Henry Faulds, who was working in Tokyo, Japan, published an article in the Scientific Journal, "Nautre" (nature). He discussed fingerprints as a means of personal identification, and the use of printers ink as a method for obtaining such fingerprints. He is also credited with the first fingerprint identification of a greasy fingerprint left on an alcohol bottle.

Gilbert Thompson - 1882
In 1882, Gilbert Thompson of the U.S. Geological Survey in New Mexico, used his own fingerprints on a document to prevent forgery. This is the first known use of fingerprints in the United States.

Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) - 1883
In Mark Twain's book, "Life on the Mississippi", a murderer was identified by the use of fingerprint identification.
In a later book by Mark Twain, "Pudd'n Head Wilson", there was a dramatic court trial on fingerprint identification. A more recent movie as made from this book.

Sir Francis Galton

During the 1880's, Sir Francis Galton, a British anthropologist and a cousin of Charles Darwin, began his observations of fingerprints as a means of identification. In 1892, he published his book, "Fingerprints", establishing the individuality and permanence of fingerprints. The book included the first classification system for fingerprints.
Galton identified the characteristics by which fingerprints can be identified. These same characteristics (minutia) are basically still in use today, and are often referred to as Galton's Details.

Juan Vucetich

In 1891, Juan Vucetich, and Argentine Police Official, began the first fingerprint files based on Galton pattern types. At first, Vucetich included the Bertillon system with the files. (see Bertillon below)
In 1892, Juan Vucetich made the first criminal fingerprint identification. He was able to identify a woman by the name of Rojas, who had murdered her two sons, and cut her own throat in an attempt to place blame on another.
Her bloody print was left on a door post, proving her identity as the murderer.

1901
Introduction of fingerprints for criminal identification in England and Wales, using Galton's observations and revised by Sir Edward Richard Henry. Thus began the Henry Classification System, used even today in all English speaking countries.

1902
First systematic use of fingerprints in the U.S. with the New York Civil Service Commission for testing. Dr. Henry P. DeForrest, a pioneer in U.S. fingerprinting.

1903
The New York State Prison system began the first systematic use of fingerprints in U.S. for criminals.

1904
The use of fingerprints began in Leavenworth State Penitentiary in Kansas, and the St. Louis Police Department. They were assisted by a Sergeant from Scotland Yard who had been on duty at the St. Louis Exposition guarding the British Display.

1905
1905 saw the use of fingerprints for the U.S. Army. Two years later the U.S. Navy, and was joined the next year by the Marine Corp.
During the next 25 years more and more law enforcement agencies join in the use of fingerprints as a means of personal identification. Many of these agencies began sending copies of their fingerprint cards to the National Bureau of Criminal Identification, which was established by the International Association of Police Chiefs.
It was in 1918 when Edmond Locard wrote that if 12 points (Galton's Details) were the same between two fingerprints, it would suffice as a positive identification. This is where the often quoted (12 points) originated. Be aware though, there is "NO" required number of points necessary for an identification. Some countries have set their own standards which do include a minimum number of points, but not in the United States.

THERE IS NO REQUIRED NUMBER OF POINTS NECESSARY

In 1924, an act of congress established the Identification Division of the F.B.I.. The National Bureau and Leavenworth consolidated to form the nucleus of the F.B.I. fingerprint files.
By 1946, the F.B.I. had processed 100 million fingerprint cards.
And by 1971, 200 million.

Why Fingerprint Identification?
Fingerprints offer an infallible means of personal identification. That is the essential explanation for their having supplanted other methods of establishing the identities of criminals reluctant to admit previous arrests. Other personal characteristics change - fingerprints do not.
In earlier civilizations, branding and even maiming were used to mark the criminal for what he was. The thief was deprived of the hand which committed the thievery. The Romans employed the tattoo needle to identify and prevent desertion of mercenary soldiers.
More recently, law enforcement officers with extraordinary visual memories, so-called "camera eyes," identified old offenders by sight. Photography lessened the burden on memory but was not the answer to the criminal identification problem. Personal appearances change.
Around 1870 a French anthropologist devised a system to measure and record the dimensions of certain bony parts of the body. These measurements were reduced to a formula which, theoretically, would apply only to one person and would not change during his/her adult life.
This Bertillon System, named after its inventor, Alphonse Bertillon, was generally accepted for thirty years. But it never recovered from the events of 1903, when a man named Will West was sentenced to the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. You see, there was already a prisoner at the penitentiary at the time, whose Bertillon measurements were nearly exact, and his name was William West.
Upon an investigation, there were indeed two men. They looked exactly alike, but were allegedly not related. Their names were Will and William West respectively. Their Bertillon measurements were close enough to identify them as the same person. However, a fingerprint comparison quickly and correctly identified them as two different people.

Return To Main Page