Greetings: Prof. Galili Shahar, Dr. Irene Aue-Ben-David

Lecture by Dr. Amir Teicher, Faculty of General History, Tel Aviv University

Fingerprints: Heredity, Science, Lew

Research of fingerprint patterns developed as an identification tool and colonial policing. However, in the last third of the nineteenth century various researchers starting to discuss the question as to whether fingerprints are hereditary? If so, whether they can be used in courts, in cases in which a doubt has been raised as regards the identity of the father. In the twenties of the twentieth century the Norwegian researcher Kristine Bonnevie attempted to provide an answer to these questions. With the help of tracing these theories, in the way in which they were accepted in Germany, and their implementation in practice in the courts, inter alia in racial contexts, a fascinating situation in the history of science was introduced, with important Jewish-German perspectives.