Wikipedia entry
Introduction
Alphonse Bertillon (French: [bɛʁtijɔ̃]; 22 April 1853 – 13 February 1914) 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. He is also the inventor of the mug shot. Photographing of criminals began in the 1840s only a few years after the invention of photography, but it was not until 1888 that Bertillon standardized the process. His flawed evidence was used to wrongly convict Alfred Dreyfus in the infamous Dreyfus affair.
Wikidata
Q568386
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Getty record
Nationality
French
Gender
Male
Roles
Artist, Anthropologist, Criminologist, Photographer
Name
Alphonse Bertillon
Ulan
500336447
Information from Getty’s Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License

Works

2 works online

Exhibitions

Publications

  • Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde Exhibition catalogue, Hardcover, 248 pages
  • Photography at MoMA: 1840–1920 Hardcover, 376 pages
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