[Table] Historical Development of Fingerprints

YearIndividual/OrganizationContribution
3000 BCMasonsUsed finger impressions on brickwork for projects for kings and pharaohs.
500 BCChina and BabylonImprinted clay tablets and business records with the author’s fingerprints for identification.
1684Nehemiah GrewPublished the first written description of fingerprints in the West, including detailed drawings.
1686Marcello MalpighiDescribed ridges, spirals, and loops in fingerprints without noting their identification value.
1823Joannes PurkinjePublished a thesis detailing nine fingerprint patterns, later named arches, tented arches, loops, whorls, and twinned loops.
1858Sir William HerschelUsed inked palm impressions and fingerprints on contracts for identification in India, confirming ridge pattern consistency over time.
1870s-1880Dr. Henry FauldsConducted experiments proving fingerprint patterns remain the same after skin regeneration, identified fingerprints at crime scenes, and published an article on forensic use of fingerprints.
1892Sir Francis GaltonPublished a book introducing the first fingerprint classification system, identifying minutiae still used today.
1900Sir Edward HenryDeveloped a classification system for fingerprints, which became the basis for indexing in the English-speaking world.

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