---
title: "Francis Galton"
chunk: 9/9
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Galton"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:06:17.894886+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The KING has also been pleased, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date the 26th June, 1909, to confer the dignity of a Knight of the said United Kingdom upon:
Francis Galton, Esq., Sc.D., F.R.S., Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
His statistical heir Karl Pearson, first holder of the Galton Chair of Eugenics at University College, London (now Galton Chair of Genetics), wrote a three-volume biography of Galton, in four parts, after his death.
The flowering plant genus Galtonia was named after Galton.
University College London has in the twenty-first century been involved in a historical inquiry into its role as the institutional birthplace of eugenics. Galton established a laboratory at UCL in 1904. Some students and staff have called on the university to rename its Galton lecture theatre, with journalist Angela Saini stating, "Galton's seductive promise was of a bold new world filled only with beautiful, intelligent, productive people. The scientists in its thrall claimed this could be achieved by controlling reproduction, policing borders to prevent certain types of immigrants, and locking away "undesirables", including disabled people."
In June 2020, University College London (UCL) announced the renaming of a lecture theatre named after Galton because of his connection with eugenics.

== Published works ==

== Collections ==
After Galton's death in 1911, his archive donated to University College London by his executors. The Galton Papers include material about Galton's personal life and family, correspondence, and papers relating to his scientific work. Material was subsequently added to the collection to through gifts from Galton's nephew and other family members, and via purchases made through Karl Pearson and other members of the Galton Laboratory. Galton's personal library was incorporated into the library of the Galton Laboratory; these books are also held at University College London.
University College London also holds the papers of Galton's protégé Karl Pearson, the records of the Galton Laboratory, and successors to the Galton Professor role including J.B.S. Haldane and L.S. Penrose.
The Royal Geographical Society holds material relating to Galton including photographs, correspondence and a telescope he used in expeditions.

== See also ==
Eugenics
Eugenics in the United States
Founders of statistics
Galton Laboratory
Historiometry
Hereditarianism
History of evolutionary thought
New eugenics
Social darwinism
Social effects of evolutionary theory

== References ==

=== Citations ===

=== Sources ===

=== Further reading ===

== External links ==

Works by Francis Galton at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Francis Galton at the Internet Archive
Works by Francis Galton at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) 
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Francis Galton", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
Catalogue of the Galton papers  held at University College London
"Biography of Francis Galton".