History of Fingerprinting

Dr. Nehemiah writes paper on human hands.

1684

Dr. Nehemiah writes a research paper on the patterns found on human hands while looking through a microscope. He made note of ridges on the hands.

Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer elaborates on Nehemiah's paper.

1788

Johann Christoph Andreas Mayer expands upon the paper by detailing how every person has their own ridge pattern.

Jan Evangelist Purkyn identifies various fingerprint patterns.

1823

Jan Evangelist Purkyn discovers nine distinct fingerprint patterns.

Sir William Herschel collects fingerprints.

1856

Sir William Herschel starts collecting fingerprints for the sake of studying them and discovered how patterns weren't altered by one's age.

Alphonse Bertillon creates a way to identify criminals.

1879

Alphonse Bertillon invents a new way to identify criminals based off the prior information.

Bertillon's method is put to use.

1883

Alphonse Bertillon's method of identifying criminals is used for the first time to identify a criminal.

Sir E. R. Henry and Sir Francis Galton develop a fingerprint classification system.

1888

Galton and Henry create the first fingerprint classification system which is still in use today.

Ivan Vucetich improves fingerprint collection.

1891

Ivan Vucetich began recording measurements on identification cards and introduced the idea of including all 10 fingerprint impressions. He also created his own fingerprint classification system.

Sir Edmund Richard Henry divides fingerprint patterns into groups.

1896

Sir Edmund Richard Henry devised groups for fingerprints based on pattern (e.g. whorl, arch, loop).

First murder solved using fingerprints.

1902

A murder is solved using Alphonse Bertillon's fingerprint method for the first time.