HISTORY OF FINGER PRINTS

Ancient History of use of finger prints

1000 BCE; archaeological evidence of ancient Chinese and Babylonian civilisations using fingerprints to sign legal documents In ancient Babylon, fingerprints were used on clay tablets for business transactions. The earliest dated prints of the ridged skin on human hands and feet were made about 4,000 years ago during the pyramid building era in Egypt. In addition, one small portion of palm print, not known to be human, has been found impressed in hardened mud at a 10,000-year old site in Egypt.
Chinese fingerprinting
It was common practice for the Chinese to use inked fingerprints on official documents, land sales, contracts, loans and acknowledgments of debts. The oldest existing documents so endorsed date from the 3rd century BC, and it was still an effective practice until recent times. Even though it is recorded that the Chinese used their fingerprints to establish identity in courts in litigation over disputed business dealings, researchers fail to agree as to whether the Chinese were fully aware of the uniqueness of a fingerprint or whether the physical contact with documents had some spiritual significance.
In 14th century Persia, various official government papers had fingerprints (impressions), and one government official, a doctor, observed that no two fingerprints were exactly alike
Marcello Malpighi - 1686
In 1686, Marcello Malpighi, a professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, noted in his treaties; ridges, spirals and loops in fingerprints. He made no mention of their value as a tool for individual identification. A layer of skin was named after him; "Malpighi" layer, which is approximately 1.8mm thick.
John Evangelist Purkinji - 1823
In 1823, John Evangelist Purkinji, a professor of anatomy at the University of Breslau, published his thesis discussing 9 fingerprint patterns, but he too made no mention of the value of fingerprints for personal identification.
Beginnings of finger print identification science

Sir-William Herschel-1856.
the English first began using finger prints in July 1958,when Sir William Hershel, Chief Magistrate of the Hoogly district in Jungipoor, India first used finger prints on native contracts. On a whim, and with no thought toward personal identification, Herschel and Rajyadhar Konai a Local businessman, impress his hand print on the back of a contract. and, later, thumb impressions of some members of the local population on contracts. These prints were used as a form of signature on the documents because of the high level of illiteracy in India and frequent attempts at forgery. Herschel also began fingerprinting all prisoners in jail. ".Herschel's main role as a fingerprint pioneer lies in the area of the immutability of ridged skin also mentioned by Faulds. Throughout his life, Herschel took his own fingerprints and noted that no change had occurred in them in over 50 years. He also had a small collection of about 20 sets of fingerprints and used his technique of hand printing to detect forgeries of legal documents. The fingerprints taken from prisoners were also of great interest to him, and he had the opportunity to see the same prisoners fingerprinted several times over a number of years with no change occurring in their fingerprints.

1880; Dr Henry Faulds, an English physician working in Tokyo, published a letter in the journal Nature suggesting the use of fingerprints for identification purposes. The greatest advances in fingerprint science in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were probably made by Dr Henry Faulds, a Scottish missionary doctor of the United Presbyterian Church. Faulds first became interested in fingerprints after 1874 while working at the hospital he established in Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan. After careful experiment and observation, he became convinced that fingerprint patterns did not change, that the fingerprint patterns on the fingers where highly variable and that superficial injury did not alter them, they returned to their former design as the injury healed. In a letter written to Nature in October 1880, Faulds relates how he took many sets of fingerprints and palmprints and studied them, as Grew had done, with a botanical lens. He further described the pattern formations on the fingers, referred to "loops" and "whorls" and stating how good sets of fingerprints may be obtained by the use of "a common slate or smooth board of any kind, or a sheet of tin, spread over very thinly with printer's ink. This technique, still in use today, appears to be a botanical technique called nature-printing. Fauld's most important conclusion was that fingerprints do not change and that fingermarks (that is, latent prints) left on objects by bloody or greasy fingers "may lead to the scientific identification of criminals
Gilbert Thompson - 1882
In 1882, Gilbert Thompson of the U.S. Geological Survey in New Mexico, used his own fingerprints on a document to prevent forgery. This is the first known use of fingerprints in the United States
Juan Vucetich
In 1891, Juan Vucetich, and Argentine Police Official, began the first fingerprint files based on Galton pattern types. At first, Vucetich included the Bertillon system with the files.
In 1892, Juan Vucetich made the first criminal fingerprint identification. He was able to identify a woman by the name of Rojas, who had murdered her two sons, and cut her own throat in an attempt to place blame on another.
Her bloody print was left on a door post, proving her identity as the murderer

1892; After some years of research the English scientist Sir Francis Galton published a book entitled Finger Prints in which was laid out a method of classification of fingerprints. Sir Francis Galton, published an accurate and in-depth study of the fingerprinting science that included an attempt at a system of fingerprint classification to facilitate the handling of large collections of fingerprints. Although Galton's work proved to be sound and became the foundation of modern fingerprint science and technology, his approach to classification was inadequate, and it was to be others who were to successfully apply his work.
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1897; Another Indian Police officer Sir Edward Henry proposed a modified classification system which was adopted by Scotland Yard in 1901 and is still the basis of the systems used in most English speaking countries. An Englishman, Sir Edward Henry, devised a workable classification system independently and implemented it in India in 1897. Henry published his book Classification and Uses of Fingerprints in 1900. In 1901, Henry was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Police at New Scotland Yard and began to introduce his fingerprint system into that institution. By the end of that year, the Fingerprint Office at New Scotland Yard was fully functional, the first British court conviction by fingerprints being obtained in 1902. Approximately 10 years after the publication of Henry's book, his classification system was being used by police forces and prison authorities throughout the English-speaking world
1901; First official use of fingerprints in the USA by the New York City Civil Service Commission.
1930 National fingerprint file set up in America by the FBI.
Present use of finger print identification.

Fingerprints are still the primary method of identification of criminals. Modern developments have included;
1
Improvements to the techniques used for the detection of prints, including the use of lasers and luminescence
2
Storage, searching, retrieval and matching of prints using computers (automated fingerprint identification systems; AFIS)
Richard Saferstein in his book Criminalistics describes the following fundamental principles of fingerprints;
1. A fingerprint is an individual characteristic
In the 90 years since fingerprinting was generally introduced, out of the millions of sets of prints that have been taken, no two individuals have been found to have the same fingerprints.
It is not the shape of the print that is individual, but rather the number, location and shape of specific ridge characteristics (also known as minutiae).
When comparing a print from a crime scene to a known print of a suspect the examiner is looking for minutiae in the same place on each print. This is complicated as it is rare to get a whole fingerprint at a crime scene so it is often only a section of a print that is being compared. It is also common for the print to be distorted as it is pressed or rolled onto a surface, so that two prints from the same finger of the same person don't look the same.
The greater the number of matches of minutiae the smaller the probability of a mistake being made. Australian courts in a similar fashion to British courts require at least 16 minutiae to be matched before the fingerprint be used as evidence of identification.
Article from The Print*: A Review of the Sixteen Point Fingerprint Standard in England and Wales
*The official publication of the South California Association of Fingerprint Officers
2. A fingerprint will remain unchanged during an individual's lifetime
The ridges on the grasping surfaces of hands and on the soles of feet are present at birth and remain unchanged for life except for size as growth occurs. They may be obscured by deep tissue damage that causes scarring, like burns for example. However these scars may also be useful as points of identification.
3. Fingerprints have general ridge patterns that permit them to be systematically classified
Sir Francis Galton in his book Finger Prints (1892) classified fingerprint patterns into three main kinds;

Arches; 5 % population

Loops; 60 - 65 %

Whorls; 30 - 35 %

This classification was extended by Sir Edward Henry in 1897 and it was this modified system that was adopted by Scotland Yard in 1901. This system of classification, with some variation, is still in use today in English speaking countries.
Classifying the general pattern of fingerprints allows them to be stored in a filing system and subsequently retrieved for comparison. Modern technology has allowed this process to transferred to computers with the advent of automated fingerprint identification systems
(When a fingerprint has been found at a scene of a crime it is first classified. On the basis of this classification a "short list" of similar fingerprints from the files are compared with the print from the crime scene to try and establish a match, and therefore a identify a possible suspect.
This process used to be done laboriously by hand, but since the introduction of computer technology it has been possible to automate this process using automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS). )
The various law enforcement agencies around the world, such as the FBI and the Metropolitan Police in London (UK) have over the years built up vast collections of fingerprints.
When a fingerprint has been found at a scene of a crime it is first classified. On the basis of this classification a "short list" of similar fingerprints from the files are compared with the print from the crime scene to try and establish a match, and therefore a identify a possible suspect.
This process used to be done laboriously by hand, but since the introduction of computer technology it has been possible to automate this process using automated fingerprint identification systems (AFIS). A schematic of an AFIS is shown below;

A photograph of the print from the crime scene is scanned into a computer using image digitising software. Using sophisticated software the image of the fingerprint is compared with the computerised database of prints and a list of possible "hits" is produced. It is then up to the fingerprint expert to make the final decision as to whether there is match or not.
What is a fingerprint?
A fingerprint is an impression of the friction ridges found on the inner surface of a finger or a thumb.

The science of fingerprinting constitutes the only unchangeable and infallible means of positive identification known to man.

Why finger prints are used for identification?
The reasons why fingerprints are used for identification purposes are outlined below. These premises are supported by scientific research in areas such as biology, embryology, anatomy and histology to name a few.

1) Ridge patterns and the details in small areas of friction ridges are unique and never repeated.

2) Friction ridges develop on the fetus in their definitive form before birth.

3) Ridges are persistent throughout life except for permanent scarring.

4) Friction ridge patterns vary within limits which allow for classification.
What is finger print identification
fingerprint Identification is the method of identification using the impressions made by the minute ridge
formations or patterns found on the fingertips. No two persons have exactly the same arrangement of ridge
patterns, and the patterns of any one individual remain unchanged throughout life. Fingerprints offer an infallible
means of personal identification. Other personal characteristics may change, but fingerprints do not.
fingerprint record of suspected persons, officials can establish absolute proof of the presence or identity of a
person.
Fingerprint Pattern Type
Plain Arch
Tented Arch
Ulnar Loop
Radial Loop
Plain Whorl
Central Pocket
Double Loop
Accidental
Loop
Whorl
Whorl