Francis Galton
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Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) was a British polymath, evolutionary theorist, and the granddaddy of eugenics. He was the half-cousin of Charles Darwin.
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[edit] Eugenics and hereditarianism
Unlike many other social Darwinist thinkers such as Herbert Spencer, Galton was a staunch opponent of Lamarckian evolution. Galton was inspired by Darwin's On the Origin of Species to apply natural selection to humans and then extend that argument to support the use of artificial selection, or "eugenics," on the human population. However, his hereditarian views seemed to have taken shape prior to this point, especially during his voyages to south-west Africa in the early 1850s. Galton conducted ethnographic research there and began to develop some of his early psychological theories. This experience seems to have provided much of the basis of his works espousing scientific racism, which was fairly extreme even by the standards of Victorian England.[1] His first book-length work on heredity, Hereditary Genius, was published in 1869.[2] The book included hundreds of subjects' scores on mathematical and civil service tests as well as the lineages of the subjects. Galton argued that "genius" was primarily inherited by noting the normal distribution of the scores and the closeness of "great" men on their family trees. He coined the term "eugenics" in 1883 with his book Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development, which further developed his study of individual differences in psychological traits.[3] He was the first to make use of twin studies in his research on heredity, a method which is still used in behavioral genetics today.[4]
[edit] Other contributions
- In his early days, he was known mostly as an inventor of what were considered trivial diversions such as the Galton whistle, a dog-whistle type device he used to test the range of human audition.[5]
- In his studies of biology and psychology, Galton created many of the basic elements of statistics such as the correlation coefficient[6] and the concept of regression to the mean.[7]
- He also
createddiscovered the lognormal probability distribution (originally called the Galton distribution) which is basically a normal distribution for exponential functions. - Created the first weather maps and proposed the theory of anticyclones.[8]
- Developed fingerprinting techniques.[9]
- Debunked Darwin's theory of pangenesis, in which inheritance was based on tiny blood particles called "gemmules."[10]
- Published research refuting the efficacy of prayer.[11]
[edit] External links
- galton.org(archive of Galton's work)
- Galton Institute (founded as the Eugenics Education Society in 1908)
- Francis Galton profile at the Indiana University Human Intelligence Project
- Sir Francis Galton, History of Psychology Archives, Muskingum College
[edit] References
- The Life, Letters, and Labors of Francis Galton, ed. Karl Pearson (hosted at archive.org)
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Raymond E. Fancher. Galton in Africa. American Psychologist, Jun. 1982
- ↑ Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into Its Laws and Consequences (2nd ed.) hosted at galton.org
- ↑ Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development (2nd ed.) hosted at galton.org
- ↑ Burbridge, D. Francis Galton on Twins, Heredity, and Social Class. Br J Hist Sci. 2001 Sep;34(122 Pt 3):323-40.
- ↑ Galton's Whistle, c. 1900, Science and Society Picture Library
- ↑ Stephen M. Stigler. Francis Galton's Account of the Invention of Correlation. Statistical Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 2, May, 1989
- ↑ Introduction to Linear Regression, Duke University
- ↑ NEQ Spotlight: Dr. Francis Galton, Northeast Quadrant
- ↑ Francis Galton and Fingerprints, galton.org
- ↑ Correspondence Between Charles Darwin and Francis Galton, galton.org
- ↑ C.P. Blacker. Galton's Outlook on Religion. Eugenics Review, vol. 38, no. 2