Sir Francis G alton was born February 16, 1822, near Sparkbrook (Birmingham, Warwickshire, England), and died January 17, 1911 in Haslemer (Surrey, England). He is an English explorer, ethnographer and eugenicist, known for his pioneering research on human intelligence. Knighted in 1909
G alton Francis: biography
Francis had a happy childhood, and he gratefully acknowledged that he owed a lot to his parents. But he did not need the classical and religious training received in school and church. He later admitted in a letter to Charles Darwin that traditional biblical arguments made him "unhappy."
The parents expected their son to study medicine, so after a tour of medical institutions in Europe as a teenager (quite an unusual experience for a student of his age), training in hospitals in Birmingham and London followed. But at this time, according to G alton, he was seized with a passion for travel, as if he were a migratory bird. Attending lectures on chemistry inGiessen University (Germany) was canceled in favor of a trip to Southeast Europe. From Vienna he traveled via Constanta, Constantinople, Smyrna and Athens and brought back from the caves of Adelsberg (now Postojna, Slovenia) specimens of a blind amphibian called Proteus - the first in England. On his return, G alton entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he fell ill in his third year as a result of overwork. By changing his lifestyle, he quickly recovered, which helped him in the future.
Thirst for travel
After leaving Cambridge without a degree, Francis G alton continued his medical studies in London. But before it could be completed, his father died, leaving enough we alth for Francis to "become independent" of the medical profession. G alton could now indulge his wanderlust.
Slow expeditions in 1845-1846. to the headwaters of the Nile with friends and to the Holy Land alone became the threshold for a carefully organized penetration into the unexplored regions of South West Africa. After consulting with the Royal Geographical Society, G alton decided to investigate 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 the same base, proved difficult and unsafe. Although the researchers did not reach Ngami, they obtained valuable information. As a result, at the age of 31, in 1853, G alton Francis was elected a member of the Royal Geographical Society, andthree years later - the Royal Society. In the same year, 1853, he married Louise Butler. After a brief European honeymoon, the couple settled in London, and G alton set to work in 1855.
Early publications
The first publication concerned land exploration - in 1855 the book "The Art of Travel" was published. There were clear signs that his scientific curiosity was developing in new directions. The first object of G alton's fruitful research was the weather. He began to draw maps of winds and pressures and noticed, based on very scarce data, that centers of high pressure were characterized by clockwise wind around a calm center. In 1863, he coined the name "anticyclone" for such systems. Several other papers followed, in which he groped his way to the concepts of correlation and regression.
In 1870, G alton gave a paper at the British Association called "Barometric Weather Predictions" in which he approached multiple regression by trying to predict wind from pressure, temperature and humidity. He failed then, but set the task before others, who subsequently succeeded.
Scientist's Legacy
The indefatigable researcher Francis G alton has written 9 books and about 200 articles. They de alt with many subjects, including the use of fingerprints for personal identification, correlation calculus (sectionapplied statistics), in which G alton became a pioneer. He also wrote about blood transfusion, crime, the art of travel in underdeveloped countries, and meteorology. Most of his publications reveal the author's penchant for quantification. Early work, for example, de alt with the statistical testing of the effectiveness of prayers. In addition, for 34 years, he has been improving measurement standards.
Fingerprints
Having shown that some of the 12 parameters of Bertillon's system of measuring criminals correlated with each other, G alton began to be interested in personal identification. In an article for the Royal Institution in which he discussed Bertillionage, he happened to notice a pattern on the pads of his fingers. 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 a set of them is presented to an examiner, it can be said, with reference to a suitable dictionary or equivalent, whether a similar set has been registered or not.
The result of the book and evidence to a committee set up by the Home Office in 1893 was the creation of a fingerprint department, the forerunner of many like it around the world. Francis G alton himself, as might be expected from his previous work and interests, turned to the study of drawing inheritance. This studyconducted over the years in the laboratory he founded and which was later named after him.
Eugenics propaganda
Despite Francis G alton's great contributions to many fields of knowledge, the science of eugenics was his primary interest. He devoted the rest of his life to promoting the idea of improving the physical and mental composition of the human species through the selective selection of married couples. Francis G alton, cousin of Charles Darwin, was one of the first to realize the importance of the theory of evolution for humanity. He realized that the theory disproved much of modern theology and also opened up possibilities for planned human improvement.
Hereditary genius
Francis G alton coined the word "eugenics" to refer to scientific efforts to increase the proportion of individuals with increased genetic endowment through selective mating. In his Hereditary Genius (1869), he used the word "genius" to mean "exceptionally high and innate" ability. His main argument was that mental and physical traits are equally inherited. At the time, this judgment was not accepted. When Darwin first read the book, he wrote that the author had succeeded in turning him from an opponent into a convert, as he had always maintained that people are not very intelligent, but only diligent and hard-working. "Hereditary Genius"undoubtedly helped him expand his theory of human evolution. The cousin was not mentioned in The Origin of Species (1859), but is quoted several times in his The Descent of Man (1871).
Great power
The thesis advocated by Francis G alton - 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 a great power readily available that can be used to great advantage once it is learned, understood and applied.
G alton's Inquiries into the Faculties of Man (1883) consists of approximately 40 articles of 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. On each of the topics touched on, the author has managed to say something original and interesting, and he does it clearly, briefly, originally and modestly. According to the terms of his will, a chair of eugenics was established at the University of London.
Reputation
In the 20th century, G alton's name was mostly associated with eugenics. Because it focuses on innate differences between people, it arouses suspicion among those who believe that cultural (social and educational) factors are largely superior to innate or biological ones in their contribution to differences between people. Therefore, eugenics is often seen as an expression of class prejudices, andG alton is called a reactionary. However, such a vision of eugenics distorts his thought, since the goal was not to create an aristocratic elite, but a population consisting entirely of the best men and women. G alton's ideas, like Darwin's, were limited by the lack of an adequate theory of heredity. The rediscovery of Mendel's work came too late to significantly affect the scientist's contribution.
