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Fingerprints first discovered
Marcello Malpighi first discovered fingerprints under a microscope and noted a series of ridges and loops, but did not really know what it was. -
Steps towards fingerprint identification
Jan Evangelista Purkynje divided the lines into nine different fingerprint patterns, based on their geometric arrangement. This is the start of classifying fingerprints, but the idea is not fully developed yet. -
Fingerprint Identification Invented
Sir Francis Galton, anthropologist by training and Charles Darwin's cousin, was the first to show how fingerprints could be used to identify individual people scientifically. -
fingerprint documented for the first time
Juan Vucetich was an Argentine chief police officer who created the first method of recording the fingerprint of individuals on files. He was the one who initiated the fingerprinting of criminals. -
First Fingerprint Book
Sir Francis Galton was the first to publish a book on fingerprints that provided a scientific footing for matching fingerprints. -
U.S. military starts using fingerprints
U.S. Army adopts the use of fingerprints and starts using it for identification. -
First Murder Case fingerprints used successfully
The first murder case in the U.S where fingerprints were used successfully was in Illinois. Thomas Jennings was accused of murdering Clarence Hiller when his fingerprints were found at Hiller's house. -
FBI establishes fingerprint repository
FBI establishes a fingerprint repository which held all fingerprint cards in a central location. -
Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) created
AFIS a computer database of fingerprint records, which is able to search and compare them to identify known or unknown fingerprints. This computerized the card system to eliminate duplicates. In present day there are nearly 70 million cards or 700 million individual fingerprints in the data base. -
Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS)
Integrated AFIS system which is the updated version of the AFIS which allows a law enforcement official to request a set of criminal prints from IAFIS and get a response within two hours.