Alphonse Bertillon

Alphonse Bertillon was a French police officer and biometrics researcher who applied the anthropological technique of anthropometry to law enforcement creating an identification system based on physical measurements. Anthropometry was the first scientific system used by police to identify criminals. Before that time, criminals could only be identified by name or photograph. The method was eventually supplanted by fingerprinting.

Bertillon was born in Paris. He was a son of statistician LouisAdolphe Bertillon and younger brother of the statistician and demographer Jacques Bertillon.

Source: Wikipedia