Sir Francis Galton was born on February 16, 1822, near Sparkbrook (Birmingham, Warwickshire, England), and died on January 17, 1911 in Heslemer (Surrey, England). This is an English researcher, ethnographer and eugenist, known for his pioneering studies of human intelligence. Knighted in 1909
Galton Francis: biography
Francis childhood was happy, and he gratefully admitted that he owed a lot to his parents. But he did not need the classical and religious training received at school and church. He later admitted in a letter to Charles Darwin that traditional biblical arguments made him "miserable."
Parents expected their son to study medicine, so after a tour of medical facilities in Europe as a teenager (a rather unusual experience for a student of his age), he followed up with studies at hospitals in Birmingham and London. But at this time, according to Galton, he had a passion for travel, as if he were a migratory bird. Visiting lectures in chemistry at the University of Giessen (Germany) was canceled in favor of a trip to Southeast Europe. He traveled from Vienna through Constanta, Constantinople, Smyrna and Athens and brought from Adelsberg caves (now Postojna, Slovenia) samples of blind amphibians called Proteus - the first in England. Upon his return, Galton entered Trinity College in Cambridge, where he became ill as a result of overwork in his third year of study. Changing his lifestyle, he quickly recovered, which helped him in the future.
Thirst for travel
After leaving Cambridge without a degree, Francis Galton continued his medical education in London. But before it was completed, his father died, leaving a sufficient condition so that Francis “became independent” from the medical profession. Galton could now indulge his craving for a change of place.
Slow expeditions in 1845-1846 to the headwaters of the Nile with friends and the Holy Land alone became the threshold for carefully organized penetration into unexplored areas of South-West Africa. After consultations with the Royal Geographical Society, Galton decided to explore a possible passage from the south and west to Lake Ngami, located north of the Kalahari Desert, 885 km east of Walvis Bay. The expedition, which consisted of two trips, one to the north, the other to the east, from one base, was difficult and unsafe. Although the researchers did not reach Ngami, they received valuable information. As a result, at the age of 31, in 1853, Galton Francis was elected a member of the Royal Geographical Society, and three years later - the Royal Society. In the same 1853, he married Louise Butler. After a short honeymoon trip to Europe, the couple settled in London, and in 1855 Galton set to work.
Early publications
The first publication concerned land research - in 1855 the book “The Art of Traveling” was published. There were clear signs that his scientific curiosity was developing in new directions. The first object of Galton's fruitful research was weather conditions. He began to draw maps of winds and pressures and noticed, based on very scarce data, that high-pressure centers are characterized by clockwise winds around a calm center. In 1863, he coined the name "anticyclone" for such systems. Several other works followed, in which he groped for a path to the concepts of correlation and regression.
In 1870, Galton read a report to the British Association entitled Barometric Weather Predictions, in which he approached multiple regression, trying to predict wind by pressure, temperature, and humidity. Then he failed, but set the task for others who subsequently succeeded.
Scientist's legacy
The tireless researcher Francis Galton has written 9 books and about 200 articles. They dealt with many subjects, including the use of fingerprints for personal identification, correlation calculus (section of applied statistics), in which Galton became a pioneer. He also wrote about blood transfusion, crime, the art of traveling in underdeveloped countries, and meteorology. Most of his publications reveal the author’s tendency to quantify. Early work, for example, involved statistical testing of the effectiveness of prayers. In addition, for 34 years, he has been engaged in improving measurement standards.
Fingerprints
Having shown that some of the 12 parameters of Bertillon’s criminal measurement system are correlated, Galton became interested in personal identification. In an article for the Royal Institute in which he discussed bertillioning, he accidentally drew attention to a drawing on his fingertips. In his book Fingerprints (1892), the author proved that:
- drawing remains constant throughout a person’s life;
- the variety of patterns is really very large;
- fingerprints can be classified or lexiconized in such a way that when their set is presented to an expert, according to it, with reference to a suitable dictionary or its equivalent, it can be said whether a similar set was registered or not.
The consequence of the book and evidence to the committee created by the Ministry of the Interior in 1893 was the creation of a fingerprint department - the forerunner of many similar ones around the world. Francis Galton himself, as one would expect from his previous work and interests, turned to the study of the inheritance of drawing. This research was carried out for many years in the laboratory, which he founded and which was later named in his honor.
Propaganda of Eugenics
Despite the great contribution to many fields of knowledge that Francis Galton made, the science of eugenics was his main interest. For the rest of his life, he devoted himself to promoting the idea of ​​improving the physical and mental composition of the human species through the selective selection of couples. Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, was one of the first to recognize the importance of evolutionary theory to humanity. He realized that theory disproved much of modern theology and also opened up opportunities for the planned improvement of man.
Hereditary genius
Francis Galton coined the word "eugenics" to denote scientific efforts to increase the proportion of individuals with increased genetic giftedness by selectively crossing mating partners. In his work “Inherited Genius” (1869), he used the word “genius” to mean “extremely high and innate” ability. His main argument was that mental and physical characteristics are inherited equally. At that time, this judgment was not accepted. When Darwin first read the book, he wrote that the author managed to turn him from an opponent into a convert, since he always claimed that people are not very different in intelligence, but only in zeal and hard work. The “hereditary genius” undoubtedly helped him expand his theory of human evolution. A cousin was not mentioned in the Origin of Species (1859), but is cited several times in his Origin of Man (1871).
Great power
The thesis advocated by Francis Galton - human psychology is inherited in the same way as physical characteristics - was strong enough to create his own personal religious philosophy. He wrote that there is no doubt that there is an easily accessible great power that can be used with great benefit as soon as it is studied, understood and applied.
Galton's book, “Studies of Human Abilities,” (1883), consists of approximately 40 articles, ranging from 2 to 30 pages each, based on scientific papers written between 1869 and 1883. It is a summary of the author’s views on human abilities. For each of the topics raised, the author managed to express something original and interesting, and he does it clearly, concisely, originally and modestly. According to the conditions of his will, the Department of Eugenics was founded at the University of London .
Reputation
In the 20th century, Galton's name was mainly associated with eugenics. Since it focuses on innate differences between people, it raises suspicion among those who believe that cultural (social and educational) factors are significantly superior to innate or biological factors in their contribution to differences between people. Therefore, eugenics is often seen as an expression of class prejudice, and Galton is called a reactionary. Nevertheless, such a vision of eugenics distorts his thought, since the goal was not to create an aristocratic elite, but a population entirely consisting of the best men and women. The ideas of Galton, like Darwin, were limited by the lack of an adequate theory of heredity. The rediscovery of Mendel’s work occurred too late to significantly affect the contribution of the scientist.