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A fingerprint is an imprint made by the pattern of ridges on the pad of a human finger. These prints are often left on objects at a crime scene and are therefore used in forensic science to identify suspects. No two humans have ever been found to have identical fingerprints, thus fingerprints are widely believed to be unique.
Fingerprints are an early example of biometrics, the science of identifying individuals by their physical characteristics. There is no clear date at which fingerprinting was first used, some examples being from prehistory. However, some significant modern dates are as follows.
Sometimes the prints are invisible, in which case they are called latent fingerprints, but there are chemical techniques such as cyanoacrylate fuming and ninhydrin spray that can make them visible.
Recently the American Federal Bureau of InvestigationFor other uses of the initials FBI see FBI (disambiguation). The Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Title 28, United States Code (U. Code), Section 533, which authorizes adopted a waveletThe wavelet transform is a transformation to basis functions that are localized in frequency (similar in that sense to Fourier-related transforms). As basis functions one uses wavelets. The big advantage over the Fourier transform is the temporal (or spat-based system for efficient storage of fingerprint data, developed by Ingrid Daubechies .
In the 2000sThis article is about the decade starting at the beginning of 2000 and ending at the end of 2009. For the century or millennium starting in 2000, see the links below. Millennia: 2nd millennium 3rd millennium 4th millennium Centuries: 20th century 21st cen, electronic fingerprint readers have been introduced for security applications such as identification of computer users (log-in authentication). However, early devices have been discovered to be vulnerable to quite simple methods of deception, such as fake fingerprints cast in gelA gel is an apparently solid, jellylike material formed from a colloidal solution. By weight, gels are mostly liquid, yet they behave like solids. An example is gelatin. In fiber-optic communications, a gel resembling petroleum jelly in viscosity is useds.
There is some controversy over the uniqueness of fingerprints. Even those who accept their uniqueness sometimes argue that the techniques used to compare fingerprints are fallible.
Fingerprint analysis (or Dactylography, a term mainly used in the US) is the science of using fingerprints to uniquely identify someone. Humans leave behind prints of the ridges of the skin on their fingertips when handling certain materials. The pattern of ridges is thought to be unique for each person and in practice has proved unique enough to identify the person who left the fingerprint.
Fingerprint analysis emerged in the early 20th century19th century 20th century 21st century more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901- 2000 in the sense of the Gre, when it was the first method in forensic science for unique identification. As a result of its early success, it acquired a mystique of infallibility. It has only recently been subjected to systematic analysis by investigators from outside the field.
Fingerprint examiners have certainly disagreed with one another: the case of Shirley McKie was a notable case involving fingerprints.