History of Fingerprint Analysis

The first uses of fingerprinting began in Ancient Babylonia around 1900 b.c. where it was implemented as a replacement for a signature for contracts. Subsequently during the deposition of the Zhou Dynasty, Chinese magistrates impressed their fingerprints into clay seals to finalize legal papers. The Persians during 1400s also employed the use of fingerprints as a signature. A doctor in the Persian Empire realised in his observations no two fingerprints were exactly alike. This official's name is believed to be Khajeh Rashiduddin Fazlollah Hamadani.

During the European Enlightenment, many physicians and anatomists published their works on finger ridges. The first of these men was Marcello Malpighi. He is credited with classifying finger ridges (fingerprints) into 3 categories: loops, spirals, and ridges (arches). A later anatomist by the name of Purkyně published a thesis in 1823 about nine types of finger ridges. The first person to utilize fingerprinting on a large scale was William Herschel, a British Raj administrator. He enforced the use of a palm print in contracts with Native Indians which illustrated the contract as a more binding force with the Indians than a written signature.

Dr. Henry Faulds of the late 1800s to early 1900s is historically the first person to use fingerprinting as a tool to discover whether a convict was innocent or guilty. While in Tokyo, he suggested to police in a robbery investigation to test the fingerprints at the crime scene with the fingerprints of the accused robber. They did not match so the man was set free. He told Scotland Yard about his findings but was disregarded due to his negligence to provide evidence.

The first man to use fingerprinting as an acceptable use as a tool in crime scenes was Edward Henry. As a police chief, he learned about Herschel's techniques while in India and implemented them during his time as the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. He used them for identification of criminals and soon, his policies spread around the globe.

During the early 20th century, many police forces began adopting the forensic science of fingerprinting and finalized it as a accurate source of identifying criminals. The U.S. Army added this tool as a source of identification in 1905. In 1924, Congress established the identification branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. By 1946, the FBI had processed over 100 million fingerprints.

The last century has brought a rapid growth of knowledge to forensic science. Modern-day police forces almost always implement fingerprint testing as a tool in a criminal investigation. Today, if a criminal unintentionally decorates the crime scene with his fingerprints, he will have only a slight glimmer of hope to escape the authority. With the advent of new technologies, a fingerprint can be traced to its origins in a matter of a few seconds.

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{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerprint#History_and_validity}