Francis Galton announces a statistical demonstration of…
1890 CE
The method of identifying criminals by their fingerprints had been introduced in the 1860s by Sir William James Herschel in India, and their potential use in forensic work was first proposed by Dr. Henry Faulds in 1880.
Galton had been introduced to the field by his half-cousin Charles Darwin, who was a friend of Fauld's, and he had gone on to create the first scientific footing for the study (which assisted its acceptance by the courts) although Galton never gives credit that the original idea was not his.
Galton points out that there are specific types of fingerprint patterns.
He describes and classifies them into eight broad categories: 1: plain arch, 2: tented arch, 3: simple loop, 4: central pocket loop, 5: double loop, 6: lateral pocket loop, 7: plain whorl, and 8: accidental.
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