{"product_id":"a-life-of-sir-francis-galton-from-african-exploration-to-the-birth-of-eugenics-9780195143652","title":"A Life of Sir Francis Galton: From African Exploration to the Birth of Eugenics","description":"Few scientists have made lasting contributions to as many fields as Francis Galton. He was an important African explorer, travel writer, and geographer. He was the meteorologist who discovered the anticyclone, a pioneer in using fingerprints to identify individuals, the inventor of regression and correlation analysis in statistics, and the founder of the eugenics movement. Now, Nicholas Gillham paints an engaging portrait of this Victorian polymath. \u003cbr\u003e The book traces Galton's ancestry (he was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin and the cousin of Charles Darwin), upbringing, training as a medical apprentice, and experience as a Cambridge undergraduate. It recounts in colorful detail Galton's adventures as leader of his own expedition in Namibia. Darwin was always a strong influence on his cousin and a turning point in Galton's life was the publication of the \u003cem\u003eOrigin of Species\u003c\/em\u003e. Thereafter, Galton devoted most of his life to human heredity, using then novel methods such as pedigree analysis and twin studies to argue that talent and character were inherited and that humans could be selectively bred to enhance these qualities. To this end, he founded the eugenics movement which rapidly gained momentum early in the last century. After Galton's death, however, eugenics took a more sinister path, as in the United States, where by 1913 sixteen states had involuntary sterilization laws, and in Germany, where the goal of racial purity was pushed to its horrific limit in the final solution. Galton himself, Gillham writes, would have been appalled by the extremes to which eugenics was carried.\u003cbr\u003e Here then is a vibrant biography of a remarkable scientist as well as a superb portrait of science in the Victorian era.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Nicholas Wright Gillham\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Oxford University Press, USA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/01\/2001\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 432\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.57h x 6.45w x 1.40d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780195143652\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2001 pg. 289\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/15\/2001 pg. 55\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/10\/2002 pg. 16\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooks \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/01\/2002 pg. 42\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNicholas Gillham\u003c\/strong\u003e is James B. Duke Professor of Biology Emeritus at Duke University.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis title is not returnable\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":39930736902259,"sku":"9.78E+12","price":57.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_b578041a-4e3d-4bf6-91c6-5ec5f9c03105.jpg?v=1647698524","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/en-de\/products\/a-life-of-sir-francis-galton-from-african-exploration-to-the-birth-of-eugenics-9780195143652","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}