Fingerprinting has been used for thousands of years, dating back to 2000 BC in Babylon where fingerprints were used for business transactions. In the late 1600s and 1700s, scientists like Nehemiah Grew, Marcello Malpighi, and Andreas Mayer began studying fingerprint ridges and their unique patterns. In the 1800s, scientists like Purkinje, Herschel, and Faulds began classifying fingerprint patterns and proposing their use for identification. Juan Vucetich made the first criminal fingerprint identification in 1892. Bertillon developed anthropometric measurements for identification, laying the groundwork for fingerprint acceptance. In the 1900s, automated systems like AFIS computer databases replaced manual fingerprint card classification and searching.

1. Amanda Hurtado,
Katherine McGowan,
Blanca Muñoz

2. 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.
221 BC- 220 AD
Fingerprints were used on clay seals
to “sign” documents.
14th Century
Official government documents
contained fingerprint impressions.

3. NEHEMIAH GREW/ MARCELLO MALPIGHI
 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.
 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
friction ridge skin
observations

4. 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”

5. 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

6. PATTERNS OF FINGERPRINTS

7. 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

8. 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”.
 Developed a classification
system for recording
impressions.
 He is credited with the first
fingerprint identification.

9. 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)

10. 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.

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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.

15. FINGERPRINTS IN CRIME
William West Case
(1903)
Rojas Case
(1892)

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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

19. 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.

20. SUMMARY
China- Business
Transactions
Bertillon’s
Method
Fingerprint Cards
(AFIS) Computer Database

21. WORK CITED
Ashbaugh, David R. Ridgeology Modern Evaluative Friction Ridge Identification.
Canada, 1999. eBook file.
Barnes, Jeffery G. "History." Fingerprint Source Book. Maryland, 2010. 3-18. PDF
file.
Crime Scene Forensics. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
<http://www.crimescene-forensics.com/ History_of_Fingerprints.html>
Ferguson, C. E., B. E. Turvey, and W. A. Petherick. "Edmond Locard." Forensic
Science Central. Elsevier Academic, 2010. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
<http://forensicsciencecentral.co.uk/edmondlocard.shtml>.
Fingerprint Evidence. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. <http://www.finger-
prints.com/>.
Gale, Thomson, ed. "Ashbaugh, David Robinson." Encyclopedia.com.
HighBeam™ Research, 2014. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
<http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3448300042.html>.
Galton, Francis. Finger Prints. London: MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YORK,

22. Herschel, William J. The Origin of Finger-Printing. London: OXFORD UP, 1916. N.
pag. eBook file.
Higgins, Peter, et al. "Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS)."
Fingerprint Source Book. By Kenneth R. Moses. Maryland, 2010. 3-33.PDF
file.
History of Forensic Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
<http://forensicpsych.umwblogs.org/research/criminaljustice/fingerprint-
analysis/>.
Reachinformation. Reach Information, 2009. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
<http://www.healthcare.reachinformation.com/Nehemiah_Grew.aspx>.
The History of Fingerprints. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.
<http://onin.com/fp/ fphistory.html>.

23. QUESTIONS 