Galton Laboratory

The Galton Laboratory of National Eugenics was a laboratory established for the research of eugenics, later for the study of biometry and statistics, and eventually human genetics, based at University College London (UCL) in London, England. Reflective of his focus on quantitative analysis that led to statistical heredity and eugenics. In the early 1900s, biometricians such as Karl Pearson and Mendelians like William Bateson were inspired by his work. In 1904, he launched his eugenics campaign at the Sociological Society, founded by Patrick Geddes and others. This was a step towards making eugenics a national social scientific program. The laboratory existed in name until 2020.

Galton's Record of Family Faculties of 1884 and Anthropometric Laboratory at the International Health Exhibition from 1884 to 1885 were the data-gathering systems that led to the establishment of the Eugenics Record Office. These systems were a way for him to apply statistical methods to humans. Individuals paid threepence to have their weight, height, reaction time and other traits scientifically measured by a superintendent. Galton kept the anonymous copy of the scorecard for research that participants left with. Overall, 9,337 people were measured during the initial exhibition, followed by 3,678 more sets of data after moving the lab several times.

The Eugenics Record Office, a precursor to the Galton Laboratory, was established in 1904 by Francis Galton. Galton coined the term eugenics and influenced 20th century biologists. In 1906 Karl Pearson took directorship of The Eugenics Record Office, eventually dissolving it. During its operation, The Eugenics Record Office employed three staffers: Dr. Edgar Schuster (Galton Research Fellow, 1905–1906), David Heron (Galton Research Fellow, 1906), and Ethel Elderton (Research Assistant and Secretary, 1905–1907). Historians often overlook the social motivations behind his eugenics programme and instead, focus on his scientific work. In 1907 the Office was reconstituted as the Galton Eugenics Laboratory as part of UCL, still under the direction of Karl Pearson, a professor of Applied mathematics.

The Galton Laboratory was created and financed by Francis Galton, a profoundly influential yet deeply controversial figure in statistics and British science. On his death in 1911, Francis Galton left his estate to the University of London to fund a permanent Chair of Eugenics. This decision was the culmination of his life's primary passion: eugenics. Galton believed that humanity could be improved through selective breeding, and his writing often spoke of racist judgements, assuming a natural superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race. The chair he funded was first filled by Karl Pearson. Pearson created the Department of Applied Statistics, which combined the Biometric Laboratory and the Francis Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics, and in 1913, this department was renamed the Department of Applied Statistics and Eugenics.

The department's increase in size prompted UCL to acquire or construct a new space. In 1912, Sir Herbert Bartlett offered space in the North-West front of UCL's Wilkins building. The outbreak of the First World War interrupted work, and the new space was not used by the department until October 1919, with an official opening in June 1920.

Pearson was succeeded as Galton Professor by R. A. Fisher in 1934. When Fisher moved to Cambridge in 1944, the laboratory was incorporated into an enlarged Department of Eugenics, Biometry and Genetics headed by J. B. S. Haldane, the Wheldon Professor of Biometry. This reversed a previous split in 1933 following Karl Pearson's retirement.

The Galton Laboratory underwent many changes during the post-war period. Most notably, this period saw another renaming of the department, a direct response to the profoundly negative associations of eugenics after World War II. This move was part of a much larger, ongoing changing of Galton's legacy that continues today. It reflects a central dilemma: removing his name may risk forgetting the past, but keeping it may appear to glorify a painful ideology. This debate is captured in the nuanced views of modern academic leaders; for instance, the president of the Royal Statistical Society cautioned against a "blanket condemnation", arguing that Galton's statistical methods should not be linked to his views on eugenics. In this complex climate, UCL has launched an inquiry into its history with the eugenics movement and has curated exhibitions designed to display Galton's research while encouraging viewers to question the racist assumptions behind it. It was amidst this re-evaluation that Harry Harris formally changed the name in 1966, where it then became the Department of Human Genetics and Biometry.

The Department of Human Genetics and Biometry, including the Galton Laboratory, became part of the Department of Biology at UCL in 1996. The MRC Human Biochemical Genetics Unit was established by Harris in 1962. He was Honorary Director until he went to Philadelphia in 1976, and the unit continued under the direction of David Hopkinson until its closure in October 2000. Sam Berry also held a Professorship in Genetics from 1972.