Juan Vucetich Kovacevich (born Ivan Vučetić; 20 July 1858 – 25 January 1925) was a Croatian-Argentine

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

and police official who pioneered the use of dactyloscopy (fingerprint identification).

Biography

Vucetich was born in

Hvar Hvar (; Chakavian: ''Hvor'' or ''For'', el, Φάρος, Pharos, la, Pharia, it, Lesina) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, located off the Dalmatian coast, lying between the islands of Brač, Vis and Korčula. Approximately long, wi ...

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, str ...

, then part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

, and immigrated to Argentina in 1882. In 1891, he began the first filing of fingerprints based on ideas of

Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton, FRS FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psychologist, Anthropology, anthropologist, tropical Exploration, explorer, geographer, Inventio ...

which he expanded significantly. He became the director of the Center for Dactyloscopy in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. At the time, he included the

Bertillon system The history of anthropometry includes its use as an early tool of anthropology, use for identification, use for the purposes of understanding human physical variation in paleoanthropology and in various attempts to correlate physical with racial ...

alongside the fingerprint files. The first positive identification of a criminal was made in 1892, when

Francisca Rojas Francisca Rojas is believed to be the first criminal found guilty through fingerprint evidence in the world. On 29 June 1892, 27-year-old Rojas murdered her two children in Necochea, Buenos Aires Province, in Argentina. Her six-year-old son, Ponc ...

killed her two children and cut her throat, putting the blame on an outside attacker. A bloody print identified her as the killer. Argentine police adopted Vucetich's method of fingerprinting classification and it spread to police forces all over the world. Vucetich improved his method with new material; he published ''Dactiloscopía Comparada'' ("Comparative Dactyloscopy") in 1904. Vucetich died in

Dolores, Buenos Aires Dolores is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the administrative centre for Dolores Partido. The town settlement was officially founded by Ramón Lara on 21 August 1817. 2008 March train disaster On March 9, 2008 an intercity bus ...

Legacy

The

Buenos Aires Provincial Police The Buenos Aires Provincial Police (Spanish: ''Policía de la Provincia de Buenos Aires'', informally ''Policía Bonaerense'') is the police service responsible for policing the Province of Buenos Aires, in Argentina. It is one of the biggest po ...

academy near

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

is named the Escuela de Policia Juan Vucetich; an eponymous museum was also founded. In Croatia, the Forensic Science Centre Ivan Vucetic in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

also bears his name. The city of

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the I ...

has a memorial marker to commemorate his service in the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...

while stationed there. There is a bust in his native

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vucetich, Juan 1858 births 1925 deaths Argentine anthropologists Argentine inventors Argentine people of Croatian descent Argentine police officers Austro-Hungarian emigrants to Argentina Burials at La Plata Cemetery Croatian emigrants to Argentina Croatian inventors Fingerprints Forensic scientists Naturalized citizens of Argentina People from Buenos Aires Province People from Hvar (city) People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia