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Juan Vucetich Kovacevich (born Ivan Vučetić; 20 July 1858 – 25 January 1925) was an Argentine-Croatian anthropologist and Police who pioneered the use of dactyloscopy (fingerprint identification).
In 1891, he began the first filing of fingerprints based on ideas of Francis Galton, which he expanded significantly. He became the director of the Center for Dactyloscopy in Buenos Aires. At the time, he included the Bertillon system alongside the fingerprint files.
The first positive identification of a criminal was made in 1892, when Francisca Rojas killed her two children, then cut her own throat in an attempt to put 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.
In Croatia, the Forensic Science Centre Ivan Vučetić in Zagreb also bears his name. The city of Pula has a memorial marker to commemorate his service in the Austro-Hungarian Navy while stationed there. There is a bust in his native Hvar. In 2023, a museum was opened in Hvar, named in his honor.
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Categories: 1858 Births, 1925 Deaths, Argentine Anthropologists, Argentine Inventors, Argentine People Of Croatian Descent, Argentine Police Officers, Emigrants From Austria-hungary 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, People From The Kingdom Of Dalmatia
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