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Throughout History, dating back to ancient times, Fingerprints are used as official signatures and are used on official documentation.
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Macello Malphigi, a professor at the University of Bologna, notes that there are some commonalities in the way fingerprints are structured
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Sir William Herschel uses fingerprinting to have Indian natives sign binding contracts instead of signatures, noting that it seems no two fingerprints are the same, supplementing his practice.
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Dr. Henry Faulds, seen as the "father of fingerprinting" uses a fingerprint left on a bottle to identify the person who held it. He later proposes a possible use in forensics.
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A murder is solved using fingerprints left behind at the scene.
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Sir Francis Galton publishes his first book on fingerprinting, noting major patterns and details used to identify fingerprints
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After a case of mistaken identity, fingerprinting gains popularity as a reliable form of identification, particularly in prisons.
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The US military officially adopts fingerprinting as a primary form of identification. Police agencies soon follow.
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US courts accept use of fingerprints as identification, allowing their use in the murder trial of Thomas Jennings
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The first major computer database of fingerprints is developed, which holds 700 million individual fingerprints in present day
