HISTORY OF FINGERPRINTS

RICHARD C. KASHINDYE
ASSISTANT LECTURER IN FORENSIC SCIENCE
UDOM
The Evolution of

Fingerprinting
 ANCIENT HISTORY OF FINGERPRINTING
2000 BC
Fingerprints were used for business
transactions in Babylon.

221-206 BC

China had records about using hand

prints as evidence during investigation.
Used as signature For legal documents

221 BC- 220 AD

Fingerprints were used on clay seals to

“sign” documents.

14th Century

Official government documents contained

fingerprint impressions.
 1684- NEHEMIAH GREW
 English botanist, physician and
microscopist

 1684: Published Philosophical

Transactions of the Royal Society
of London vol. 14, pp. 566-567
(1684).

 First person to study and describe

ridges, furrows, and pores on hand
and foot surfaces.

 Referred sweat pores as ― Little

Fountain‖.
 1685 - GOVARD BIDLOO

 Dutch golden age physician,

anatomist, poet and playwright

 In his book human anatomy

incorporated a diagram of friction
ridges and pore structure

 But failed to mention about the

individuality of the friction ridges.
 1687- MARCELLO MALPIGHI

 Italian physiologist

 1687: Published Concerning the

External Tactile Organs

 Noted that ridged skin increases friction

between an object and the skin’s surface
which enhances traction for walking
and grasping
 Noted in his treatise; 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.
 1788- ANDREAS MAYER
 1788 – German anatomist Johann Christoph
Andreas Mayer is the first to write that
friction ridge skin is unique.

 Book: Anatomical Copper-plates with

Appropriate Explanations,

 Mayer wrote, “Although the arrangement of

skin ridges is never duplicated in two
persons, nevertheless the similarities are
closer among some individuals. In others
the differences are marked, yet in spite of
their peculiarities of arrangement all have a
certain likeness”
JOHANNES E. PURKINJE 1823
 Evangelist published
article on nine
fingerprint patterns 1832

 Did not receive credit

due to not applying his
method to anything
useful (although others
did piggy-back on his
ideas)

 Was known mostly for

studying cells
PATTERNS OF FINGERPRINTS
WILLIAM HERSCHEL 1858
 After Indian Mutiny of 1858,
became member of Indian
Civil Service

 Contract with fickle

employer made him put
handprint on contract

 Used prints on family

prints did not change over
time

 Published worked in
England’s “Nature” magazine
that prints are consistent
HENRY FAULDS (1880)
 British surgeon and Superintendent of Tsukiji
Hospital in Tokyo.

 Wrote an article that discussed fingerprints as a

means of identification.
 Began to study “skin-furrows”. after noticing
finger marks on specimens of "prehistoric" pottery

 Developed a classification system for recording

impressions.
 He is credited with the first fingerprint
identification.
 . In 1880, Faulds forwarded an explanation of his
classification system Darwin, in advanced age and ill
health, informed Dr. Faulds that he could be of no
assistance to him, but promised to pass the materials on
to his cousin, Francis Galton.
GILBERT THOMPSON 1882
 First (known) use of fingerprints
for legal purposes in the US

 Engineer working for US

Geological Survey working on
railroads in Mexico 1882

 Pressed thumb print on “chit

wages” to prevent forgeries

 (caught a “lying Bob” and made

him pay $75)
ALPHONSE BERTILLION
 Alphonse Bertillon, a Clerk
in the Prefecture of Police of
at Paris, France

 System of classification:
Anthropometry- First
method of classification also
known as the Bertillon
System

 This method laid ground

work for acceptance of
fingerprints as scientific
method.
FRANCES GALTON 1888
 Studied prints to see
patterns in prints and
genealogy

 Did calculations on
statistics of fingerprint
similarities

 Identified
characteristics of
fingerprints in his
article “Fingerprints”
1892
JUAN VUCETICH (1892)
 Statistician at the Central
Police Department in La
Plata, Argentina. He was later
promoted to Anthropometric
Identification.

 Kept the first fingerprint files

based on Galton’s details.

 Made the first criminal

fingerprint identification
SIR EDWARD RICHARD HENRY (1896)

 Inspector General of Police for

the Lower Provinces in Bengal.

 Went before an inquiry

committee to convince them to
change to fingerprinting
criminals instead of using the
Bertillon Method.

 Published the book The

Classification and Use of
Fingerprints.
FINGERPRINTS IN CRIME
William West Case Rojas Case
(1903) (1892)
FINGERPRINTS IN POP CULTURE
 Mark Twain’s Life of the Mississippi
1883 used fingerprint ID to catch
the antagonist.

 Alfred Hitchcock used fingerprints

in M is for Murder by having one
character trick another into leaving a
visible print on a letter

 Adventure of the Norwood Builder, a

Sherlock Holmes novel by Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle used
fingerprints as a significant clue at a
turning point in the novel. Ballistics
and tool marks were also brought to
the public in his series
EDMOND LOCARD

 Developed the science of poroscopy, the study

of fingerprint pores and the impressions
produced by these pores.

 Established the first rules of the minimum

number of minutiae necessary for identification

 He said that if 12 specific points were identical

between two fingerprints, it would be sufficient
for positive identification.
DAVID ASHBAUGH
 Sergeant and forensic
identification specialist in
Canada. Specialized in
ridgeology.

 Noted fingerprint
individuality

 Remain unchanged except for

scars

 Patterns and details are

unique; ridge patterns vary
within
AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (AFIS)

 Replace intensive processes of

classifying, searching, and
matching ten print cards used
for personal identification

 Database search for 10 pt. set

of prints

 1963 Special Agent Carl

Voelker: FBI’s fingerprint
identification process.

 1975-1976: System called

Finder was delivered to the
FBI.
FINGERPRINT HISTORY IN TANZANIA

 Fingerprint was established in 1954

SUMMARY

China- Business
Transactions

(AFIS) Computer Databases

Bertillon’s
Method
Fingerprint Cards
QUESTIONS 