English explorer, geographer, anthropologist and psychologist Sir Francis Galton: biography, discoveries and interesting facts

Sir Francis Galton was born on February 16, 1822., near Sparkbruk (Birmingham, Warwickshire, England), and died January 17, 1911 in Haslemere (Surrey, England). It is an English researcher, ethnographer and eugenicist, known for his innovative researches of the human intellect. Knighted in 1909.

Galton Francis: Biography

The childhood of Francis was happy, and he withgrateful acknowledged that he owed much to his parents. But he did not need the classical and religious instruction received at school and church. Later, he confessed in a letter to Charles Darwin that the traditional biblical arguments made him "unhappy."

Parents expected that the son will studyso after the tour medical institutions in Europe in their teens (quite an unusual experience for a pupil of his age) was followed by training in hospitals in Birmingham and London. But at that time, according to Galton, he was seized with a passion for travel, as if he were a migratory bird. Visiting lectures on chemistry at the University of Gisen (Germany) was canceled in favor of a trip to South-Eastern Europe. From Vienna, he traveled through Constanta, Constantinople, Smyrna and Athens and brought from the caves of Adelsberg (now Postojna, Slovenia) samples of a blind amphibian called Proteus - the first in England. Upon his return, Galton entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where in the third year of his education, as a result of overwork, he fell ill. Changing the way of life, he quickly recovered, which helped him in the future.

Thirst for travel

After leaving Cambridge without obtaining a degreeFrancis Galton continued his medical education in London. But before it was completed, his father died, leaving a sufficient condition for Francis to "become independent" from the medical profession. Galton could now indulge his desire to change places.

Slow expeditions in the years 1845-1846. to the headwaters of the Nile with friends and to the Holy Land, alone led to a carefully organized penetration into unexplored areas of South-West Africa. After consulting with the Royal Geographical Society, Galton decided to investigate a possible passage from the south and from the west to Ngami Lake, 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, proved difficult and unsafe. Although the researchers did not reach the 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 year 1853 he married Louise Butler. After a brief honeymoon in 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 Travel" was published. Here, the signs that his scientific curiosity is developing in new directions became obvious. The first object of fruitful research Galton became weather conditions. He began to draw maps of winds and pressures and noticed, based on very poor data, that the high-pressure centers are characterized by clockwise winds around the quiet center. In 1863, he invented for such systems the name "anticyclone." Several other works followed, in which he groped for the way to the concepts of correlation and regression.

In 1870, Galton read in the Britishassociation report called "Barometric Weather Predictions" in which he approached multiple regression, trying to predict the wind by pressure, temperature and humidity. Then he failed, but set a task for others who subsequently succeeded.

The heritage of the scientist

The indefatigable explorer Francis Galton wrote9 books and about 200 articles. They touched on many subjects, including the use of fingerprints to identify the individual, the 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 penchant for quantitative evaluation. Early work, for example, involved a statistical test of the effectiveness of prayers. In addition, for 34 years, he has been working on improving measurement standards.

Fingerprints

Showing that some of the 12 system parametersThe measurement of Bertillon's criminals correlated with each other, Galton began to take an interest in identity. In an article for the Royal Institute, in which he discussed Bertilliage, he accidentally drew attention to the drawing on the fingertips. In his book "Fingerprints" (1892), the author proved that:

• the pattern remains constant throughout the life of a person;
• the variety of patterns is really very large;
• prints can be classified, orlexiconize in such a way that when their set is presented to the expert, on it, with reference to a suitable dictionary or its equivalent, it can be said that a similar set was registered or not.

The consequence of the book and the evidence to the committee,created by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1893 was the creation of a department for fingerprints - the forerunner of many similar ones all over the world. Francis Galton himself, as might be expected from his previous work and interests, turned to studying the inheritance of the drawing. This research was carried out for many years in the laboratory, which he founded and which was subsequently named in his honor.

Propaganda of eugenics

Despite the great contribution to many areasknowledge, which made Francis Galton, the science of eugenics was his main interest. For the rest of his life, he devoted propaganda to the idea of ​​improving the physical and mental make-up of the human species through selective selection of married couples. Frances Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, was one of the first who realized the importance of the theory of evolution for mankind. He realized that the 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" toto identify scientific efforts to increase the proportion of people with increased genetic talent by selective cross-breeding of marriage partners. In his work "Hereditary genius" (1869) he used the word "genius" to mean "exceptionally 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 new convert, since he always argued that people are not very different intellect, but only diligence and hard work. "The hereditary genius" undoubtedly helped him expand his theory of human evolution. The cousin was not mentioned in the "Origin of Species" (1859), but was cited several times in his "The Origin of Man" (1871).

Great power

The thesis defended by Francis Galton -human psychology is inherited in the same way as physical characteristics - was strong enough to create one's own religious philosophy. He wrote that there is no doubt about the existence of an easily accessible great power that can be used with great profit, once it has been studied, understood and applied.

Galton's book "Studies of abilitiesman "(1883) consists of approximately 40 articles from 2 to 30 pages each, based on scientific works written between 1869 and 1883. It is a summary of the author's views on the ability of a person. For each of the topics touched upon, the author managed to express something original and interesting, and he does it clearly, briefly, ingeniously and modestly. According to the terms of his will, the University of London was founded by the department of eugenics.

Reputation

In the 20th century, the name of Galton was mainly associated withwith eugenics. Since it focuses on the inherent differences between people, it causes suspicion in those who believe that cultural (social and educational) factors largely surpass innate or biological in their contribution to differences between people. Therefore, eugenics is often viewed as an expression of class prejudice, and Galton is called a reactionary. Nevertheless, this vision of eugenics distorts his thought, since the goal was not to create an aristocratic elite, but a population entirely composed of the best men and women. The ideas of Galton, like Darwin, were limited to the lack of an adequate theory of heredity. The rediscovery of Mendel's works occurred too late to significantly influence the contribution of the scientist.