Fingerprints and Personal Identification

Material relating to Galton's work on fingerprints and personal identification.

Galton is credited with pioneering the scientific methodology for using fingerprints for forensic purposes, collecting and classifying around 8,000 fingerprint samples. He first collected prints in the Anthropometric Laboratory at the South Kensington Museum (later the V&A). Galton introduced the concept of fingerprint identification to Alphonse Bertillon, who adopted the technique into his system for recording and identifying criminals.