Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:37:42.879Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sir Francis Galton, 1822-1911*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Gerald Corney
Gerald Corney*
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Human Biochemical Genetics Unit, The Galton Laboratory, University College London
*
Wolfson House, 4, Stephenson Way, London, NW1 2HE, UK

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Francis Galton was born on 16th February 1822 (the same year as Mendel). His mother Violetta (1783-1874) was the daughter of Dr. Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), a medical practitioner in Derby who had scientific interests, particularly in plants, and produced various mechanical inventions. He was also grandfather to Charles Darwin. Galton's father, Samuel Tertius Galton (1783-1844), was a Birmingham banker but possessed a number of scientific instruments. His father (Francis Galton's grandfather), Samuel Galton (1735-1832), also had scientific interests, including colour vision, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Francis Galton became a medical student in Birmingham in 1838, subsequently attending King's College London, Cambridge and St. George's Hospital. However, he gave up his medical studies in 1844 after the death of his father [5,17]. Later he travelled in Egypt and South Africa about which he wrote various articles and books, including “The Art of Travel” (1855) [6] of which a total of eight editions were published. His scientific work from these expeditions won him his first medal, the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society awarded in 1853. Subsequently he wrote further on scientific matters, mainly concerning geography, travel and meteorology. He worked on stereoscopic maps and problems associated with wind currents and sailing ships and introduced the word “anticyclone”. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1856 and later to the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, becoming Secretary of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1863 [4,19].

Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 13 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1984

Footnotes

*

Adapted from a leaflet prepared for the Galton exhibition held in University College London to coincide with the Fourth International Congress on Twin Studies.

References

REFERENCES

1.Cowan, RS (1972. Francis Galton's statistical ideas: the influence of eugenics. Isis 63:509–528.Google Scholar
2.Cowan, RS (1972. Francis Galton's contribution to genetics. J Hist Biol 5:389–412.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Darwin, C (1859): On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
4.Forrest, DW (1974): Francis Galton: The Life and Work of a Victorian Genius. London: Paul Elek.Google Scholar
5.Francis Galton as a medical student. Br Med J 1:701–702 (1911).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Galton, F (1855): The Art of Travel; or. Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
7.Galton, F (1865): Hereditary talent and character. Macmillan's Magazine 12:157–166; 318–327.Google Scholar
8.Galton, F (1869): Hereditary Genius. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
9.Galton, F (1874): English Men of Science: their Nature and Nurture. London: Macmillan, pp 12–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Galton, F (1875. The History of Twins, as a Criterion of the Relative Powers of Nature and Nurture. Fraser's Magazine 12:566–576.Google Scholar
11.Galton, F (1875. Short Notes on Heredity, etc., in Twins. J. Anthropol Inst 5:324–329.Google Scholar
12.Galton, F (1875. A Theory of Heredity. J. Anthropol Inst 5:329–348.Google Scholar
13.Galton, F (1875. The History of Twins, as a Criterion of the Relative Powers of Nature and Nurture. J Anthropol Inst 5:391–406.Google Scholar
14.Galton, F (1883): Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development. London: Macmillan, pp 216–243.Google Scholar
15.Galton, F (1889): Natural Inheritance. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
16.Galton, F (1892): Finger Prints. London: Macmillan, pp 185–187.Google Scholar
17.Galton, F (1908): Memories of my Life. London: Methuen, pp 22–47.Google Scholar
18.Kleinwächter, L (1871): Die Lehre von den Zwillingen. Prague: Haerpfer.Google Scholar
19.Pearson, K (1914–1930): The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton (3 vols). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
20.Price, B (1950. Primary biases in twin studies: a review of prenatal and natal difference-producing factors in monozygotic pairs. Am J Hum Genet 2:293–352.Google Scholar
21.Spaeth, J (1860): Studien über Zwillinge. Zschr Gesell Aerzte Wien 16:225–231, 241–244.Google Scholar
22.Spaeth, J (1862): Studies regarding twins [English translation] Edinburgh Med J 7:841–849.Google Scholar
23.Twins and Fertility (1876): Live Stock Journal and Fancier's Gazette 3:148.Google Scholar
24.Verschuer, O von (1939. Twin research from the time of Francis Galton to the present day. Proc R Soc London Ser B 128:62–81.Google Scholar