While it’s well established the “zoom and enhance” voodoo found the history of fingerprintingon popular crime shows is nothing more than Hollywood magic, real technologies exist that help solve mysteries in fascinating ways. Caruso’s lasers and billions of dollars worth of equipment capture our imagination, but even on a rudimentary level, analysis evidence leans on compelling scientific knowledge and progressive technology that identifies criminals and helps get them off the streets. One of the oldest and incredibly, still relevant pieces of evidence in practice is the lowly fingerprint.
But while booths full of super-glue vapors help give a cool visual to the practice, what does the average CSI viewer know about fingerprints? A closer look demonstrates a technology with a history as fascinating as its utilization. Furthermore, understanding the roots of fingerprinting enlightens a concept currently guiding the advent of new biometric technologies today.
