Galton, Francis

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Francis Galton (1822–1911), the scientist who created and promoted eugenics, the notion that a fitter human race might be created through selective breeding, was born near Birmingham, England, on February 16, and died in Haslemere, Surrey, England, on January 17. Originally oriented toward a medical career, Galton switched to Cambridge University to study mathematics, graduating with an ordinary degree. But his Cambridge experience was crucial to Galton's future career, during which he attempted to introduce quantitative analysis into whatever problem on which he happened to be working. His quantitative interests led Galton to discover the important statistical concepts of regression and correlation. He applied these in his anthropometric studies whose ultimate goal was to contribute to the improvement of humanity through eugenics, a term coined by Galton, that has profound ethical implications.

Galton's decision to abandon medicine was strongly influenced by his cousin, Charles Darwin (1809–1882), thirteen years his senior. They were grandsons by different marriages of Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), a physician, scientist, poet, and inventor.

Like Darwin, Galton began his career as an explorer. Several years after graduating from Cambridge, he financed his own expedition and traveled through northern Namibia, a region of Africa not previously visited by Europeans. Galton took careful measurements of latitudes, longitudes, and altitudes, published his results in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1852, and was awarded a gold medal by the Society the same year. He also wrote a nontechnical book about his journey, Tropical South Africa (1853), but is best remembered for The Art of Travel (1855), an immensely popular guidebook for amateur and professional alike who ventured into the bush. The book went through many editions, grew in size, and Phoenix Press reissued the fifth edition in 2001. Subsequently Galton was active in the Royal Geographical Society for many years commenting frequently at Society meetings. During this part of his career he also became interested in meteorology. This led to his discovery of the anticyclone, a weather feature characteristic of a high-pressure system.

The second part of Galton's career commenced when he read Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859). Galton concluded that it should be possible to improve the human race through selective breeding just as was true for domestic animals and cultivated plants. In 1865 he published a two-part article entitled "Hereditary Talent and Character" in a popular periodical called MacMillan's Magazine. The MacMillan's article was a precursor for Galton's book Hereditary Genius (1869). In both the article and the book Galton attempted to show that what he called talent and character were inherited. The book contained sections on judges and statesmen among others. Galton's thesis was that if he picked an eminent judge, for instance, that judge's immediate male relatives (e.g., father and son) were more likely to be eminent than those whose relationship was more distant (e.g., grandfather and grandson). Women were excluded from the analysis. Galton believed that analysis supported his thesis while recognizing, as others argued, that environment (for example, the father might obtain a good position for the son) might also be responsible for the correlation.

Galton was intensely interested in the analysis of quantitative data. By the time he had written Hereditary Genius he had become aware of the normal distribution and its application. In the book he used the bell curve to calculate a hypothetical distribution of the estimated 15 million males in the United Kingdom according to their natural abilities. Later Galton described two important new statistical concepts: regression and correlation. In experiments with sweet peas he found that seed diameter was normally distributed, but the diameter of seeds of progeny of large seeded and small seeded plants tended to be closer to the mean of the population as a whole than they did to the parental seed from which they had come. He dubbed this property regression to the mean. Regression to the mean has been documented over and over again since (for instance, in the case of different classes of mutual funds such as ones specializing in growth versus international stocks).

Galton also found he could draw a straight line on a graph comparing the diameters of parental and progeny seeds (Figure 1). This was the first regression line and from it he computed the first regression coefficient. Later he obtained comparable numerical data for humans (e.g., height) in the anthropometric laboratory organized at the International Health Exhibition of 1884 held in South Kensington, London. After the exhibition ended the laboratory reopened in the Science Galleries of the South Kensington Museum. Because Galton collected data on both parents and children, he once more demonstrated regression to the mean (e.g., for height).

While plotting forearm length against height he discovered another important statistical concept, correlation (i.e., tall men have long forearms). He reported the first correlation coefficient, countless numbers of which have been calculated since. Galton also became interested in fingerprints and their classification and used his anthropometric laboratory to collect scores of fingerprints. His work was central to the development of fingerprinting as a forensic technique.

Galton collected many of these important observations together in his book Natural Inheritance (1889). He began to acquire disciples. One of these, Karl Pearson (1857–1936), a superb mathematician, was able to develop statistical theory and go far beyond Galton in its formulation.

All the while Galton had been promoting eugenics. The notion that fitter people could be bred through selection began to gain great momentum in the first decade of the twentieth century. Positive eugenics envisioned the selective reproduction of those regarded as fit, while negative eugenics discouraged or prevented the reproduction of those deemed unfit. Sadly negative eugenics prevailed. In the United States eugenic sterilization laws were passed in many states leading to the involuntary sterilization of thousands of people who were thought to be mentally deficient or feebleminded. Developments in the United States were followed with interest elsewhere, especially in Germany. When the Nazis came to power they passed an involuntary sterilization law that resulted in the sterilization of hundreds of thousands of individuals. After World War II eugenic sterilization gradually came to an end. Although eugenics is Galton's unfortunate legacy, he also leaves important accomplishments such as statistics and the development of fingerprinting technology.

Darwin, Charles;; Eugenics.

Gillham, Nicholas W. (2001a). "Sir Francis Galton and the Birth of Eugenics." Annual Review of Genetics 35: 83–101.

Gillham, Nicholas W. (2001b). A Life of Sir Francis Galton: From African Exploration to the Birth of Eugenics. New York: Oxford University Press.

Kevles, Daniel. (1995). In the Name of Eugenics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Kühl, Stefan. (1994). The Nazi Connection. New York: Oxford University Press.

Paul, Diane B. (1995). Controlling Human Heredity:1865 to the Present. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press.

Reilly, Philip R. (1991). The Surgical Solution: A History of Involuntary Sterilization in the United States. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

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