The Man Who Measured Everything: The Fingerprint Pioneer

Francis Galton:

One in 64 billion. I did enjoy that calculation.

Subhadra Das:

In addition to Galton's quincunx, there are some other interesting objects currently in this box. This is his personal mobile transportable fingerprinting kit. Not a lot of people know that Galton is the person who worked out that the odds of two people having the same fingerprints is 1 in 64 billion, which is the basis of our criminal identification system today. He's the one that did the math to make that possible. And this was his own little kit that he used to take around and take the fingerprints of his friends. Apparently, he used it to take the fingerprints of William Gladstone, who was prime minister at the time. So, you can see he's named it "Finger Mark Printer." Got little bits of paper there which you can put people's fingerprints on. Little bits of chamois leather and rags so they can clean their hands. There's a roller there and some ink and some turpentine as well. So all the things you need for a transportable kit to take fingerprints — handy in one box.

Francis Galton:

The prime minister gave me his fingerprints. He did not ask why. I did not explain.

DISCLOSURES:

This video is for educational and informational purposes only. It uses the Galton Board as a conceptual statistical illustration of how random outcomes can cluster around a mean. It is not intended to depict actual or hypothetical investment performance, the behavior of any index, or the results of any investment strategy.

This content should not be considered a solicitation, recommendation, or endorsement of any particular security, product, service, or investment strategy, and should not be construed as personalized investment, tax, or legal advice. All investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Past performance, model demonstrations, statistical analogies, or historical data do not guarantee future results, and no investment decision should be made solely based on this video or related materials.