Born on February 16, 1822, in Birmingham, England, Francis Galton was the youngest of nine children of Samuel Tertius, a banker, and Frances Anne Violetta Galton. At the age of 16, Galton enrolled at Trinity College, Cambridge, to study medicine and mathematics. He spent the summer of 1840 exploring Constantinople, Athens, Venice, and Milan. Upon his return to school, he focused his attention fully on medicine but quickly grew disillusioned. When his father died in October 1844, he inherited a substantial amount of money, allowing him to abandon his medical studies.

In October 1845, Galton left England to travel around the Middle East and Africa for a year. He ventured down the Nile on a barge, rode horses, oxen, and camels, and took copious notes and measurements everywhere he went before returning in November 1846. In 1850 he planned a trip in conjunction with the Royal Geographical Society to South Africa. From this journey, Galton produced...