Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694)- An Italian anatomist & microscopist who described the patterns on the tips of fingers as part of an overall study of human skin. He is regarded by some to be the first histologist – The study of tissues. The lower epidermis “Malpighian Layer” is named after him. For almost 40 years he used the microscope to describe the major types of plant & animal structures and in doing so marked out for future generation of Biologists major areas of research in Botany, Embryology – Embryology is the science of the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage, human Anatomy – Anatomy is the study of the structure of animals and their parts, and is also referred to as zootomy to separate it from human anatomy and Pathology – Pathology is a significant component of the causal study of disease and a major field in modern medical practice and diagnosis. He provided anatomical basis for eventual understanding of human physiological exchanges. Marcello Malpighi was the founder of microanatomy.

Dr. Nehemiah Grew (1641 – 1712)– Dr. Grew was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the College of Physicians, he described the “innumerable little ridges” in Philosophical Transaction for 1684: For if anyone will but take the pains, with an indifferent glass to survey the palm of his hand, he may perceive… innumerable little ridges of equal bigness and distance and everywhere running parallel one with another, and especially upon the hands and first joint of the finger and thumb. They are very regularly disposed into spherical triangle and ecliptics. Dr. Grew published extremely accurate drawings of finger patterns and areas of palm.

Sir Francis Galton (1822 – 1911)-One of the greatest scientists of his time, and a cousin of Charles Darwin English Victoria n statistician, progressive, polymath, sociologist , psychologist ,anthropologist, eugenicist , tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist and psychometrician. Galton produced over 340 papers and books.. He was the first to apply statistical methods to the study of human differences and inheritance of intelligence, As an investigator of the human mind, he founded psychometrics (the science of measuring mental faculties) and differential psychology and the lexical hypothesis of personality. He devised a method for classifying fingerprints that proved useful in forensic science By calculation and statistics he estimated the chances of any one human possessing ten fingerprints identical to another were one in 64,000,000,000. In 1892 he published his first work on the subject entitled Fingerprints, and in 1895 -Fingerprint Directories. Galton’s interest in the subject and his eminence in the British scientific community almost certainly influenced authorities in their decision to adopt the fingerprint system of identification.

Dr. Henry Faulds (1843 – 1936)– A medical missionary and a controversial figure in fingerprint history. In 1879 while serving in Japan, he became interested in fingerprints. In February 1880 he wrote to Charles DARWIN and suggested the use of fingerprints to identify convicted criminals, cadavers (in as much as he suggested hereditary patterns) and the use of marks, bloody fingers or impressions on clay, glass etc. to identify murderers or robbers. This letter was passed by DARWIN to GALTON. In October 1880 he wrote to the Editor of Nature (On the skin furrows of the hand). He repeated the use of crime scene marks in that, they may lead to a scientific identification of criminals and quoted examples of positive and negative evidence. Herschel replied to this letter in November 1880, giving details of his own use of fingerprints over 20 years. The method of identifying criminals by their fingerprints had been introduced in the 1860s by Sir William James Herschel in India, and their potential use in forensic work was first proposed by Dr. Henry Faulds in 1880. Galton, following the idea written by Faulds, which he failed to credit, was the first to place the study on a scientific footing, which assisted its acceptance by the courts. The Japanese police officially adopted the fingerprinting system in 1911.

Juan (John) VUCETICH (1858 – 1925) Argentina– First Homicide Solved In 1891 he was head of the statistical bureau in Argentina and was tasked with setting up an Anthropometric Bureau. However, he had also read about the work of Galton and Herschel. By 1892 he had devised his own fingerprint classification system. In the same year Francesco Rojas of Nechochea, Buenos Aires Province, was found in a house with neck injuries. Her two sons were found dead with their throats cut. Rojas accused a neighbor, a Snr. Velasquez. Despite thrashings and being made to stay with the corpses overnight Velasquez would not confess. Inspector Alvarez, a colleague of Vucetich, found a bloody thumb latent on the house door, which he cut out, and compared with Rojas’s prints. The latent was her right thumb and she subsequently confessed. In 1894 the whole province of Buenos Aires adopted the fingerprint system. In 1909 Vucetich was awarded the honor of Perito Identificator (skilled in identification) by the President of Argentina. his system continues to be used in South America even today.

Sir Edward Henry (1850 – 1931) UK– Another member of the Indian Civil Service, working in various posts from 1873 to 1900. In 1891 he was appointed Inspector of Police for the Lower Provinces, Bengal. By 1892, he had started experimenting with the anthropometric system and later thumbprints. To increase his knowledge of fingerprints he wrote to Galton, and visited him whilst on leave in 1894. On return to India, he arranged for 10 finger sets to be taken and set out to devise a classification system. In this he was assisted by (and later paid tribute to) two of his staff – Azizul HAQUE and Chandra BOSE, and kept Galton informed of his efforts. In December 1896, on an express train to Calcutta, Henry was reputed to have had a flash of inspiration that enabled him to complete his classification system. He made his final calculations on his shirt cuff because he had travelled without a notepad. On the 29th March 1897 an independent commission, chaired by C. Shahan, Surveyor General of India, examined Henry's system. Six months later, on July 12th 1897, the Governor General ordered anthropometry (Bertillion’s system) to be discontinued and fingerprinting to be introduced in all of British India. During 1898, in Bengal alone, 345 criminals were identified by fingerprints. This rose to 569 in 1899. In that same year the Indian legislature passed a special Act (Act 5 of the India Council) amending law of evidence to permit fingerprint experts to give testimony in Indian Courts of Law.

Julius Spier (1877 – 1942)– Psycho-Analytic Chirologist Julius Spier made a long and cautious study of chirology, spending thirty years studying hands before he committed anything to writing. He had a medical and psychiatric training and then trained as an Analytical Psychologist under Jung. By the 1930's was teaching and promoting his psycho-chirology amongst physicians and psychologists in Berlin and Zurich. he places much emphasis on the continuing influence of our family and early life on our development as individuals. He sees the purpose of hand analysis as a means of freeing the individual from social and environmental influences that have inhibited or suppressed our true development. His only book, 'The Hands of Children' published posthumously in 1944, wholly concentrates on the analysis of the hand for signs of suppression or abnormal psycho-sexual development in the child in order that neurosis, stress and internal conflict can be avoided in later adult life. he has some particularly revealing insights regarding the Air finger and sexual expression as well as some interesting observations about line formations that are indicative of psychological repression in early childhood life. He even identifies line formations indicative of adverse conditions in the foetal life of the individual. Given his stress on the balance of the individual with the environment around him Spier thus mainly concerns himself with developmental problems as they are reflected in the patterns of the hands of children, for by detecting such problems in the young age, it may prove possible to ameliorate or overcome them before they establish themselves as rigid and destructive habit patterns in adult life. He is one of the most original contributors to the study of the hand and is also one of the most important for the scientific validation of the psychological interpretation of the patterns of the hand. His work was unfinished however, for he died before even his first book had been published.

Beryl Hutchinson MBE (1891 – 1981)– The leading figure of Society for Study of Physiological Patterns SSPP, after Jaquin himself, was undoubtedly Beryl Hutchinson MBE. Coming from a well to do background meant that she could direct her considerable energy and enthusiasm for chirology without having to concern herself with making a living from it. As a consequence she was therefore the main driving force behind the society for thirty years, a considerable amount of that time being the society’s president. She wrote two books on hand analysis the second book Your Life in Your Hand from 1967, is widely acknowledged as being a first class chirological work. She conducted much of her own research and like Jaquin, was particularly concerned with the significance of dermatoglyphic patterns and the manifestation of physical ill-health in the hand. She also studied the palmar signs of vitamins and minerals deficiencies and made extensive studies of anatomy and physiology in order to demonstrate how this supports the interpretation of the hand.

Noel Jaquin (1893-1974)– He was one of the most Important pioneer for the study and chirological diagnosis of hand in this country. Although he is most important as pioneer within the fields of health analysis and sexual & emotional evaluation from the hand, he has made considerable contribution to all aspects of the chirological art. His work is a broad canvas with a lightly sketched image, outlining the breadth of scope of the diagnostic potential of the hand. His last two books The Human Hand (1956) and The Theory of Metaphysical Influence (1958) concentrate far more on his general theories about life, the universe and everything and expound more of his philosophy of hand reading. In April 1945 Noel Jaquin helped to establish / found the Society for the Study of physiological Patterns (SSPP) in conjunction with Hilda Jaffe, Beryl Hutchinson and Margaret Hone. This society was dedicated to promote the scientific importance of chirology as a diagnostic tool in the analysis of psychology and pathology. It continues to flourish to these days.

Dr. Harold Cummins (1894 – 1976)– Dr. Harold Cummins achieved world recognition as the “Father of Dermatoglyphics” or the scientific study of skin ridge pattern found on the palms of human hands. The findings of his lifetime studies and the techniques he developed, known as the Cummins Methodology, are accepted as important tools in tracing genetic and evolutionary relationships. He pulled together the diverse work of his predecessors, added original research and set the standards of the field still in force to the present. His willingness to stake his reputation on research that only became scientific "fact" two decades later cemented his place in history and brought international attention to dermatoglyphics.

Rita Levi-Montalcini ( 1909 – 2012)- was an Italian Nobel Laureate honored for her work in neurobiology. She was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine jointly with colleague Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF). From 2001 until her death, During World War II she set up a laboratory in her bedroom and studied the growth of nerve fibers in chicken embryos, which laid the groundwork for much of her later research. In September 1946, Levi-Montalcini was granted a one-semester research fellowship in the laboratory of Professor Viktor Hamburger at Washington University in St. Louis. After she duplicated the results of her home laboratory experiments, Hamburger offered her a research associate position, which she held for 30 years. It was here that, in 1952, she did her most important work: isolating nerve growth factor (NGF) She was made a full professor in 1958. From 1961 to 1969 she directed the Research Center of Neurobiology of the CNR (Rome), Levi-Montalcini founded the European Brain Research Institute in 2002, and then served as its president.