In 1686 Marcello Malpighi, who was a professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna noticed the spirals, loops, and ridges that are on a fingerprint, though he never mentioned his discovery. Then in 1823 another professor of anatomy wrote a thesis about the nine types of print, this professor is credit for being the first to examine fingerprint using a microscope. In 1858 Sir William Herschel impressed his hand print on the back of a important document, he did this to keep others from reproducing his signature, pretty soon he began to do this for all documents. The first known use of fingerprints in the U.S. was by Gilbert Thomson in 1882 when he also began to use fingerprint on documents. In the 1880’s Sir Francis Galton began to study fingerprints as a type of identification, he wrote a book in 1892 discussing the difference in every ones fingerprints. Included in this book were the first classification types for fingerprints. Galton was credited for naming the five original details that are found in a fingerprint: dot, ending ridge, enclosure, bifurcation, and island. Juan Vucetich began the first fingerprint files in 1891 based on Galton’s patterns, Vucatich also made the first criminal fingerprint identification in 1892 from bloody fingerprints found on a door post.
Types of Fingerprints:
There are three types of fingerprints: direct, latent, and plastic. Direct fingerprints are prints that are left in a medium like blood that allows them to be seen with the naked eye. These prints become possible through when a finger comes into contact with a substance such as blood, ink, or grease and is then applied to a smooth surface, leaving behind a visible print. Latent prints are not apparent to the naked eye. These prints are formed from sweat from sebaceous glands on the body. The sweat creates a print that must be developed before it can be seen or photographed. Plastic prints are prints that have been left in soft surfaces such as clay, or paint. These prints are visible to the naked eye and can be viewed or photographed without being developed.
Basic Shapes and Patterns of Fingerprints:
There are other types of fingerprints that are shown in the pictures below: Accidental, Central Pocket Loop, Double Loop, Loop, Plain Arch, Plain whorl, tented arch.Line types (shapes): rod, ellipse, spiral, bifurcation, tented arch, loop, island, arch.
Techniques/chemicals used to develop prints on nonabsorbent, porous, hard, and smooth surfaces:
In class we broke into groups of four so that we could fill out Modus Operandi sheets. We were given an ink pad and told to place each finger on the pad so that a small amount of the ink would be on each finger. Then very carefully we placed our thumbon the place on the sheet where it says thumb, then you roll the finger left to rght so that each print is taken evenly, the process is repeated for each finger, and the other hand. Then using the internet we researched the types of fingerprints and wrote down beside each of our own prints what type it was. The next thing that we did with the fingerprints was actually trying to lift one from glass using crushed lead. 
When trying to lift fingerprints there are many ways that fingerprints are lifted. One method is through the use of different types of powders and a brush, using these supplies the person lifting the fingerprints physically dusts the surface. This technique allows the powder to stick tothe contaminates that cause ridge deposits. There are three types of brushes used for this mechanical process: fiberglass, camel hair, and feather. Black or gray powder is commonly used for lifting prints, the black powder is made of black carbon, or charcoal and is used on light colored surfaces, the gray powder is composed of aluminum dust and used for dark surfaces. This process is used for hard and smooth surfaces. Chemicals are also often used to lift prints, the oldest method is iodine fuming. The material with the print is placed in a closed cabinet with iodine crystals and heated, while being heated the vapors will combine with the constituents of the print making it visible. When the process is stopped the print must be photographed or sprayed with a one percent solution to starch in water, this turns the print blue. This process is used on porous nonabsorbent surfaces. Sources:
lots of really good information
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