landmarks

This page highlights major developments in the theory and practice of biometrics.

Context is provided by the chronology of international privacy development here and Australian privacy development - including surveillance legislation - here.

1684 Nehemiah Grew's paper on hands

1686 Marcello Malpighi's De Extemo Tactus Organo

1798 J C Mayer suggests that fingerprints are unique

1775 Lavater's Essays on Physiognomy

1823 Johannes Purkinje's A Commentary on the Physiological Examination of the Organs of Vision & the Cutaneous System

1880 Henry Faulds' letter in Nature on fingerprints

1882 Bertillonage introduced by Paris police

1884 Francis Galton opens Anthropometric Laboratory at International Health Exhibition

1892 Rojas case in Argentina is first conviction based on fingerprints?

1892 Galton's Finger Prints

1900 Belper Committee in UK establishes fingerprinting as basis for criminal identification

1902 Denmark Hill case in UK - first UK use of fingerprint to connect accused with crime scene

1902 fingerprinting introduced in NSW prisons

1902 New York Civil Service Commission fingerprints applicants to prevent cheating

1903 'Leavenworth Incident' seals fate of Bertillonage

1903 support for Bertillonage evaporates after Fort Leavenworth case

1903 fingerprinting introduced in New Zealand prisons

1903 NSW Police Fingerprint Bureau established

1903 Victorian police fingerprint unit established

1904 South Australia police fingerprint unit established

1904 Queensland police fingerprint unit established

1904 New York Police Department introduces fingerprint register

1905 first prosecution in New Zealand based on fingerprints alone

1906 US military fingerprint register established

1905 first UK use of fingerprint evidence in murder trial

1910 Jennings case - first use of fingerprints in US murder trial

1912 Tasmanian police fingerprint unit established

1918 Edmond Locard's '12 Point Match' hypothesis

1928 Western Australia police fingerprint unit established

1931 Klara Roman's Graphodyne

1936 ophthalmologist Frank Burch suggests iris-based identification

1941 NSW Police provides Central Fingerprint Bureau for federal government

1943 Cummins & Midlo's An Introduction To Dermatoglyphics

1957 Northern Territory police fingerprint unit established

1960 automated fingerprint identification scheme

1967 ACT police fingerprint unit established

1976 MITRE evaluation program (fingerprint, hand, voice) in US

1977 computer recognition of faces

1978 patent for retinal identification

1980 first authentication by keystroke timing

1980 Australian Federal Police Fingerprint Bureau

1983 automatic signature verification

1984 Jeffreys' Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) characterised as 'DNA Fingerprinting'.

1985 UK police use forensic DNA profiling

1986 Australian National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS)

1987 Pitchfork case in UK uses DNA profiling of 5,000 men in community to clear suspect and identify perpetrator

1987 Safir and Flom gain iris-recognition patent

1987 Robert Melias becomes first person in UK convicted on basis of DNA evidence

1988 closure of Central Fingerprint Bureau in Australia

1989 Dotson in US becomes first person to have conviction overturned on basis of DNA evidence

1989 first Australian court case involving DNA evidence

1993 Daugman's IEEE paper on iris recognition

1994 Daugman gains patent for iris-recognition algorithms

1995 world's first national criminal DNA database established in UK

1997 Victoria becomes first Australian jurisdiction with legislation regulating use of a DNA database

1998 FBI establishes National DNA Index System, enabling city, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies to compare DNA profiles electronically

1998 Zhang's paper on palmprint recognition

2002 United States v. Llera Plaza

2004 first statewide automated palm print databases established in US

2005 US and Australia incorporate biometric chips in passports

2006 Australia announces use of biometrics in new national Access Card

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