History of Fingerprints

Flashcards about the History of Fingerprints

Friction Ridge Identification

The origin of friction ridge identification is buried deep in the past of the Orient

Kejimkujik Lake (Nova Scotia)

Outline of hand scratched into slate rock by aboriginal Indian. Dated before 1873 but considered to be several hundred years old

L'ille de Gravrinis (France)

Burial chamber dating back to Neolithic Times discovered. Walls carved with what appear to be friction ridge formations

Clay Pottery in the Middle East

Identifiable fingerprints impressed into specimens of clay pottery

Chinese Clay Finger Seals

Used to seal documents during the rule of Emperor Ts-In-She between 246-210 B.C.

Chinese Hand Prints

Became the most common method for ensuring authenticity of documents in China when silk and paper were introduced

Dr. Nehemiah Grew

An English botanist, physician and microscopist and was the first to document interest in the skin's ridges in the Western World

Marcello Malpighi

A professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, Italy. Was credited with being the first to utilize the newly invented microscope in the study of fingerprints and other medical studies

Thomas Bewick

A British author, naturalist, and engraver and made wooden engravings of fingerprints and published the images in his books

Dr. Johannes Purkinje

A professor of anatomy at the University of Breslau, Germany who published a thesis commenting on the diversity of ridge patterns

Hermann Welker

German anthropologist of the University of Halle and led the way in the study of friction ridge permanence

Sir William James Herschel

Credited with being the first European to use friction ridge skin as a means of personal identification

Henry Faulds

A Scottish physician and was credited with making the first latent fingerprint identification

Alphonse Bertillon

A French anthropologist who developed the first scientific method of identifying criminals known as "Anthropometry" or "Bertillon System"

Dr. Arthur Kollmann

Studied embryological development of friction ridge skin

Sir Francis Galton

A noted British anthropologist and cousin of Charles Darwin, began observations and published a book "Fingerprints"

Juan Vucetich

A statistician for the Central Police Department in La Plata, Argentina in charge of the department's Bureau of Anthropometric Identification

Sir Edward Richard Henry

Inspector General of Police for the Bengal Province in Bengal, India

David Hepburn

University of Edinburgh, Scotland and credited with being the first to recognize that friction ridges assist with grasping

Detective Sergeant John Kenneth Ferrier

Scotland Yard In 1904, he was sent to America for two reasons: to guard a display of the British Crown Jewels at the World's Fair in St. Louis, MO and to carry out a secret agenda – to convert the Americans to the Henry Classification System

Edward Foster

Canadian Constable of the Dominion Police; became known as the "Father of Canadian Fingerprints"

Inez Whipple

Assistant Professor in the Zoology Department at Smith College, Massachusetts and noted that the development of the surfaces of the hands and feet of all mammals are similar in some degree

Harris Hawthorne Wilder

Professor of Zoology at Smith College, Massachusetts and described how random physical stresses and pressures, in addition to genetics, are responsible for friction ridge formations

Dr. Harold Cummins

A Professor of Anatomy and Assistant Dean of the School of Medicine at Tulane University, Louisiana, he co-authored a book entitled "Fingerprints, Palms and Soles – An Introduction to Dermatoglyphics"

Alfred Hale

An Associate of Cummins; was also from Tulane University and wrote a thesis entitled "Morphogenesis of the Volar Skin in the Human Fetus"

David Ashbaugh

Introduced the ACE-V scientific methodology to the forensic science community around 1980