Historical and Scientific
Foundation
of
Friction Skin
Identification
Created as a supplement to
chapter 4 of Fingerprint
Identification, by William Leo
©Copyright 2004
All rights reserved
William Leo
Earliest Use of Fingerprints was in
China
• Prints were placed on
contracts to provide a
positive means of
identification.
• This method was
described by
Historian Kia KungYen in 650 A.D.
Nehemiah Grew - 1684
English Plant Morphologist
• Studied and described the
ridges, furrows, and pore
structure of friction skin.
• Published very accurate
drawings of the fingerprint
patterns and areas of the
palms.
• Did not address uniqueness or
permanence of the ridges.
Marcello Malphighi - 1685
Professor at University of Bologna
• Used a microscope for the first time to examine
friction skin and made observations as to its
structure.
• Did not address uniqueness or permanence of
friction ridges.
• Malpighian Layer of skin names after him, for his
research contributions.
Dr. J.C.A. Mayer
• 1788 – Authored a book human anatomy
and anatomical illustrations. The book is
one of the earliest recordings supporting
the uniqueness of fingerprints.
• The book included drawings of friction skin
and this still valid statement:
“Although the arrangements of skin ridges
is never duplicated in two persons,
nevertheless the similarities are closer among
some individuals. In others the differences are
marked, yet in spite of their peculiarities of
arrangement all have certain likeness.”
This statement has been verified by all other
medical and scientific researcher of friction skin
since!
Mayer’s Illustrations
Dr. J.E. Purkinje
Physiologist & Professor of
Anatomy - 1823
• Classified
fingerprint
patterns into
nine groups.
Hermann Welcker
German Anthropologist
• Conducted first study into the permanence
of friction ridges.
• 34 years study from 1856 to 1897
Dr. Henry Faulds
Medical Doctor & Scientific
Researcher
• In 1880 wrote a letter that was published in the
British Scientific Journal “Nature”.
• Noted his research that fingerprints were
permanent & unique.
• Stated that prints left at crime scenes could lead
to the scientific identification of criminals.
Sir Francis Galton
British Scientist and Anthropologist
• Wrote first book on fingerprints in 1892.
• Included his research into the uniqueness and
permanence of fingerprints.
• Educated at Cambridge University and studied
mathematical probability under Dr. L.A.J.
Quetelet.
• Published first statistical study supporting the
uniqueness of fingerprints.
The Galton Details
as Described in his text
Galton’s Statistical Study - 1892
• Found that the statistical chance of a single
duplicate fingerprint was 1 in 64 Billion.
• Today’s Earth population is 5 to 6 Billion.
• Study was reviewed in the publication Genetics,
in 1995, was found to be still valid, but
conservative in its statistical assessment!
Sir William Herschel
late 1800’s
• Made observations that fingerprints were
permanent and unique.
• While a magistrate in India, used
fingerprints for identification purposes.
• Made the longest study into the
permanence of friction ridges – 57 years!
Inez Whipple – 1904
Professor of Biology
• Published paper titled, “The Ventral Surface of
the Mammalian Chiridium – with Special
Reference to the Conditions Found in Man”.
• This paper is the foundation of modern scientific
knowledge of how friction skin is formed and
why all areas of friction skin are unique.
St. Louis World’s Fair 1904 &
Meeting of the IACP
• Sgt John Ferrier, of Scotland Yard, was assigned
to the fair to guard the British Crown Jewels.
• During his free time, he taught classes in
fingerprint identification to attendees of the Int.
Assoc. of Chiefs of Police Conference at the fair.
• This resulted in the forming of fingerprint ID
bureaus in the United States.
Juan Vucetich -- Argentina
• Developed a fingerprint classification system in
1891. System was used in most Spanish
speaking countries until replacement with AFIS.
• Vucetich solved a double murder (Rojas
Murders) with bloody partial prints found at the
scene in 1892.
Sir Edward Henry - England
• Developed the Henry System of fingerprint
classification used for over 100 years in most
English speaking countries.
• Published his book Classification and Uses of
Fingerprint in 1900.
• Text included his research and statistical study
demonstrating the uniqueness of fingerprints
United States Navy
• In 1907, the Navy was the first branch of
service to adopt fingerprints for
identification.
• Using an acid etching, placed thumb prints
on back of dog tags.
• Soon after all branches of the military
adopted fingerprint identification.
People v. Jennings
254 Ill. 534
• First court acceptance of fingerprint
identification in the United States in 1911.
• Illinois State Supreme Court opinion:
“We are disposed to hold from the evidence of
four witnesses and from the writings we have
referred to on the subject, that there is a
scientific basis for the system of fingerprint
identification.”
Dr. Harris Wilder
Professor of Zoology
• Along with Bret Wentworth published the
textbook Personal Identification in 1918.
• Book discussed their and other’s extensive
research into the formation of friction skin, which
explains why all areas of friction skin are unique.
• Their Statistical study showed the chance of a
duplicate single partial print was one in one
quadrillion, nine hundred & fifty three trillion --- ,
or hundreds of times the population of the Earth.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Established the Identification Bureau in
1924 with 10,000 fingerprint cards.
• Today, the files have grown to
approximately 50 million and is
computerized.
• Thousands of identification are made
daily!
Doctors Harold Cummins Ph.D. and
& Charles Midlo M.D.
Professors of Human Anatomy
Tulane University
• Wrote the text, Finger Prints, Palms, and Soles
in 1943 and updated it in 1960.
• Contains their extensive research into the
formation and uniqueness of friction skin.
• Text also included their and others statistical
studies that support the uniqueness of friction
skin.
Alfred Hale, Ph.D.
Professor of Anatomy, Tulane Univ.
• 1952, published research paper titled:
Morphogenesis of Volar Skin in the Human
Fetus.
• Explains differential growth or why
fingerprints are randomly formed.
Dr. Michio Okajima
Medical Doctor, Japan
• 1976 – Published his research paper titled:
Dermal and Epidermal Structures of the
Volar Skin.
• His research verified and supports the
knowledge that all areas of friction skin are
unique and permanent.
Dr. William Babler
Professor of Biology
Indiana University
• 1980 to Present
• Published a number of research papers
explaining how friction skin is formed and why it
is unique.
• Testified at the first “Daubert hearing” in 1999 to
the uniqueness of each individual friction ridge.
Fingerprint Computers
• First Automated Fingerprint Identification
Systems (AFIS) went on line in the 1970’s.
• Everyday, millions upon millions of partial prints
are searched through these systems, resulting in
thousands of identification a day.
• Despite billions of searches to find matching
prints over twenty-five years, no two different
prints have been found to be alike.
INTERPOL
• “The axiom that not two persons have the same
fingerprints is already firmly based. With the
comparison of billions of prints per day, the
opposite is never found, so the uniqueness is
constantly confirmed in an unprecedented way.”
From the report of Interpol European Expert Group of
Fingerprint conference, May 2000
Fingerprint Identification
The World Standard for Personal
Identification
• Fingerprints have been
used for over 100 years
for identification
• Every county in the World
has accepted fingerprints
as the only positive form
of personal identification!