Fingerprints The Fingerprint System, that is to say, the method of classification and the technology of identification of people by their fingerprints, was invented in 1891 by the Argentine police Juan Vucetich, driven by the enormous amount of unsolved crimes. A fingerprint or dermatoglyph is the visible or molded impression produced by the contact of the papillary ridges of a finger (usually the thumb or index finger is used) on a surface. The first technique of identifying people through these was invented by the French Alphonse Bertillon, and then improved by Juan Vucetich. It is an individual characteristic that is used as a means of identifying people (see biometrics). They are classified by their characteristics in: Visible or Positive. - They are those that leave the fingers to be impregnated with some dye, this material can be blood, ink, dust or any other substance with which the papillary crests can be marked and can be observed with the naked eye. Molded. -They are printed in the form of a mold, these are marked on plastic, such as grease, soap, plasticine, etc. Naturales.-Appear naturally in the pulp of both hands, from six months of intrauterine life to death and even in the process of putrefaction. Artificial.-Are those that are intentionally shaped with a substance, essentially ink for study. The scientific discipline that studies fingerprints is called dactyloscopy, and within it there are two large branches with their own classification of fingerprints.