Francis Galton, about 1865

The term eugenics, meaning "well born," was coined in 1883 by Francis Galton, a scientist at University College in London. Galton's conception of eugenics had arisen from his earlier study, Hereditary Genius (1869), in which he used data from biographical dictionaries and alumni records at Oxford and Cambridge Universities to construct pedigrees of leading English families. He concluded that superior intelligence and abilities were inherited with an efficiency of about 20% among primary relatives in these families. Galton also studied the distribution of physical attributes in human populations, from which he and his student Karl Pearson derived the corpus of modern statistics - including chi-square, regression, and correlation. (DNAi location: Chronicle > Threat of the Unfit > Founders)

francis galton eugenics,francis galton,hereditary genius,square regression,cambridge universities,biographical dictionaries,karl pearson,physical attributes,human populations,english families,college in london,dnai,alumni records,pedigrees,1865,correlation,founders,scientist,relatives,efficiency

  • ID: 15753
  • Source: DNALC.DNAi

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15752. Francis Galton, about 1865

The term eugenics, meaning "well born," was coined in 1883 by Francis Galton, a scientist at University College in London.

  • ID: 15752
  • Source: DNAi

15427. Galton and the beginnings of Eugenics, James Watson

James Watson talks about Galton and the beginnings of Eugenics.

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15431. Charles Davenport's motivation for eugenics, James Watson

James Watson talks about Charles Davenport's motivation for eugenics.

  • ID: 15431
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15430. Davenport's Eugenics pamphlet for the YMCA Health League, James Watson

James Watson talks about Davenport's Eugenics pamphlet for the YMCA Health League.

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15780. Composite of the portraits of six members of the same family, by F. Galton 1882

Francis Galton used composite portraiture to identify physical traits common to families and population groups. Source: University College, London.

  • ID: 15780
  • Source: DNAi

11961. Record of Family Faculties, by Francis Galton (compiled with completed family pedigree forms), selected pages (2)

Record of Family Faculties, by Francis Galton (compiled with completed family pedigree forms), selected pages (2)

  • ID: 11961
  • Source: EA

11945. Table of eminent relatives of eminent scientists, from Francis Galton's notes for Hereditary Genius

Table of eminent relatives of eminent scientists, from Francis Galton's notes for Hereditary Genius

  • ID: 11945
  • Source: EA

11959. Record of Family Faculties, by Francis Galton (compiled with completed family pedigree forms), selected pages

Record of Family Faculties, by Francis Galton (compiled with completed family pedigree forms), selected pages

  • ID: 11959
  • Source: EA

15751. Inheritance of Ability pedigree

Galton, Wedgewood, and Darwin pedigree. This family was studied as an example of "family-stocks characterized by outstanding capacities in philosophy, science and art."

  • ID: 15751
  • Source: DNAi

11960. Record of Family Faculties, by Francis Galton (compiled with completed family pedigree forms), selected pages (1)

Record of Family Faculties, by Francis Galton (compiled with completed family pedigree forms), selected pages (1)

  • ID: 11960
  • Source: EA