
Fingerprints
Murder and the Race to Uncover the Science of Identity (Text Only)
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
This edition does not include illustrations.
A fascinating exploration into the history of science and crime. In the tradition of ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’, FINGERPRINTS is the story of the race to discover the secrets trapped in the whorls and arches found on the palm of one’s hand.
In 1905 an elderly couple were found murdered in their shop in Deptford, London. The only evidence at the scene of the crime was a sweaty fingerprint on a cashbox. Was it possible that a single fingerprint could be enough to lead to a conviction? Could the pattern of these tracks hold the secrets of the science of identification?
Through the story of three brilliant men: William Herschel, a colonial administrator in Indian, Henry Faulds, a missionary in Japan and Charles Darwin’s cousin, Francis Galton, the extraordinary story of the history of fingerprinting is revealed.
It is a story of intellectual skulduggery and scientific brilliance. Packed with an extraordinary cast of individuals whose scientific breakthroughs helped solve one of the most brutal murders in English history and shape our understanding of identity forever.
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Information
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Chronology of Fingerprints
- One: The Shocking Tragedy at Deptford
- Two: To Catch a Crook
- Three: Like Rats with No RatâCatcher
- Four: Marks on a Cocktail Glass
- Five: In a Criminalâs Bones
- Six: A Biological Coat of Arms
- Seven: Britainâs Identity Crisis
- Eight: The Case of the Little Blue Notebook
- Nine: An Innocent in Jail
- Ten: The Stratton Trial
- Eleven: Verdicts
- Epilogue
- Source Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Copyright
- About the Publisher