March 18, 2002 -- Iris recognition technology was used to identify Sharbat Gula, the "Afghan girl" with piercing green eyes who appeared on the cover of
National Geographic magazine in 1985. The process of finding her and verifying her identity is detailed in a television documentary on the
National Geographic Channel, with international airdates beginning March 18, 2002.Photographer Steve McCurry's photo of the girl was selected as the cover of National Geographic 100 Best Pictures. She was 12 years old
and had fled her country for a refugee camp in Pakistan. But although the image has appeared on the front of magazines and books,
posters, lapel pins, and even rugs, for 17 years her identity was unknown.
In January 2002, a National Geographic team set out on a mission to Pakistan to identify the girl. The team brought back photographs that
National Geographic asked Iridian Technologies of Moorestown, NJ, to compare with photographs taken in 1984, using its commercially available
iris-recognition cameras and software. Iridian's research laboratory scanned the photographic images into digital format and used
development software to process the digital image. Because the photographs were not taken with iris-recognition cameras, the
researchers had to discount for light reflection and adjust for the quality of the image.
"It all got down to the eyes. That's what made the image so popular in the first place and that's where we had to look for answers. We had
more than one person claiming to be the 'Afghan girl' so we had to be positive. It wasn't just the success or failure of the search that was at
stake but potentially the reputation of National Geographic," said Brian Armstrong, producer for National Geographic television. " We
needed an accurate, independent and conservative assessment and turned to Iridian. The experts at Iridian spent several days
reconfiguring their software to suit our specific needs and when Iridian finally said the eyes matched we knew our search was over."
Despite the challenges of working with photographs, rather than live subjects, the strength of Iridian's core algorithms allowed for a
conclusive determination that Sharbat Gula was indeed the same person as the individual who was photographed in 1984.
"The match of Sharbat Gula's eyes to the eyes on the 1985 cover photo was irrefutable, as we achieved a 1 in 100 million probability of a
false match. There is no doubt in my mind that National Geographic has found the girl in the cover photo," said Ulf Cahn von Seelen,
director of algorithms for Iridian Technologies.
Sharbat Gula now lives in Afghanistan with her husband and three daughters. To read her story, see the href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com">National Geographic Web site.
