Juan Vucetich of Argentina developed which kind of scientific method for personal identification detection?

Juan Vucetich (1858-1925) was a Croatian-born Argentine anthropologist and police official who pioneered the use of fingerprinting.

He was born as Ivan Vucetic in the Dalmatian region of Croatia then part of the Hapsburg Monarchy. In 1882, he immigrated to Argentina.

In 1891 Vucetich began the first filing of fingerprints based on ideas of Francis Galton which he expanded significantly. He became the director of the Center for Dactyloscopy in Buenos Aries, Argentina. At the time, he included the Bertillon system alongside the fingerprint files.

In 1892 he made the first positive identification of a criminal in a case where Francisca Rojas had killed her two children and then cut her throat, trying to put the blame on an outside attacker. A bloody print identified her as the killer.

Argentine police adapted Vucetich's method of fingerprinting classification and it spread to police forces all over the world. He improved his method with new material and published a book on the subject of fingerprinting. He traveled worldwide and attended scientific conferences to share data.

Juan Vucetich died in Dolores, Argentina.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

Test your knowledge

What are your thoughts on this subject?

10 Comments

Laura Lunardini Wilson

Went with the picture that got me a wrong answer!

Ben

So called the father of dactyloscopy. Great man and thinker back in the old days. By his work, in 1892, Francisca Rojas, 27, is believed to be the first criminal found guilty through fingerprint evidence in the world.

Jas Newman

Sir William James Herschel, Collector of Hooghly (Calcutta, Bengal), extensively, though informally, used fingerprints for official purposes between 1858 and 1880. Sir Edward Richard Henry, Inspector General of Bengal Police in 1891 began a series of experiments to classify various kinds of fingerprints for forensic purposes. This led to the first police fingerprint database in Calcutta in 1897.

Char

Puppermom, I agree

Char

Laura Lunardini Wilson, I did the same but I got it right because only one would you need to look at closer. Lol

David de Tremaudan

This is not true. Finger printing was first developed in China. Artists would sign there work with their thumbprint. It was referred to as the artists “chop”. It was recognized by forensic investigators in many countries but was so new to the forensic world (especially the west) as being inadmissible as evidence.