The varied work of Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) was of great importance for the development of psychological measurements. This researcher (born in Birmingham) was a very inquisitive person and achieved significant results for his time in many sciences (anthropology, geography, mathematics, meteorology). He is considered the founder of differential psychology and psychometrics.

Galton was the youngest ninth child in his family. At the age of two he knew the alphabet, at three he already read, wrote, studied languages, and at six he read all the classic English literature. He was a real child prodigy, having looked twice over a page of Shakespeare's works, and recited it by heart. His cousin was Charles Darwin.

The two lines of this family were quite famous, successful and wealthy. Darwin advanced in medicine, and Galton engaged in banking and weapons manufacturing. Both families were literally overflowing with talented people who had literary talents, were inventors, famous statesmen, priests, engaged in science. It is interesting that the giftedness in this family was both in the male and female lines. In particular, Galton's grandfather (mother's father) Erasmus Darwin was the author of rather long treatises on technical topics in poetic form was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Galton studied at the medical department of King's College London, and from 1840. - At Trinity College in Cambridge, he studied mathematics, before which he first felt a panic fear, and then became very interested in this science. Through a nervous breakdown, he left school, later tried to make up for something in his education, resumed his medical studies and received a diploma. Having not achieved much success at the university, he also, at the insistence of his father, worked for two years in a hospital in Birmingham as a medical assistant. He distributed medicines, treated fractures, amputated injured fingers, pulled out teeth, and vaccinated children. Work in the hospital was burdensome, but he could not disobey his father.

Galton very clearly characterizes such an act. Interested in the effects of drugs, he took small doses of various drugs in alphabetical order, and yet settled on C, because he realized that he could hurt himself.

In 1844 (after the death of his father) he received a good inheritance, and determined his fate, because there was no need to engage in his education and career. Galton began to realize his dreams. He was interested in expeditions, he was captured by unknown people further. First he went to the Middle East, then lived in Scotland for several years, organized an expedition to the Southeast at his own expense. West Africa. He was interested in meteorology, biology, geography. On the African expedition, Galton made observations, wrote reports and carried out cartographic work. For automatic recording of data on atmospheric phenomena, he designed a special device. His long-term observations of natural phenomena Galton summarized in the book "Meteorography" (1863), which was the first attempt at a scientific treatment of weather phenomena on Earth in general.

These studies brought the scientist many awards and respect in the scientific community. For the book "An Explorer's Tale of Tropical South Africa". Galton was awarded a medal from the Royal Geographical Society, of which he was a member for over 40 years. Subsequently, Galton refused scientific expeditions, explaining this by marriage and poor health. Nevertheless, he continued to train members of future expeditions, participated in their organization, and also gave appropriate lectures to soldiers who should serve in the British colonies. He even wrote a book called The Art of Travel.

Francis Galton was a man of very high intelligence. The authors of the "History of Psychology" believe that it can be indirectly concluded that the IQ of a scientist is approximately 200 (D. Schultz, S. Schultz, 1998). Galton's idol was Isaac Newton; a bust of the famous physicist adorned his office.

In the field of psychology, Francis Galton began his research work on the problem of individual differences in 1869 Expanding their psychological research, E. Weber, G. Fechner and G. Helmholtz carried out certain attempts to investigate this problem, and W. Wundt and E. Titchener did not consider it necessary to take into account individual differences. In the course of his wanderings, observations, Galton became interested in the problem of heredity and the emergence of individual differences. In 1869 he published the book "Hereditary Genius", in which he analyzed the biographical data of famous scientists and doctors. In this work, the researcher showed for the first time how statistical methods can be used in the study of individual giftedness. He substantiated a new method of scientific psychological research - the method of twins. Galton argued that brilliant children are born much more often in talented families, so this is due to heredity, and not influence. external conditions. He proved that prominent people outstanding figures are more likely to be born, and the birth of a genius in an ordinary family is unlikely. For example, according to him, out of 4,000 children of prominent parents, 977 men later became famous. When a group of children was randomly selected, there were only 332 gifted children. More than half of those covered by this study famous people had one or more prominent relatives.

Famous people inherit not only genius, but also special form its manifestations. Galton argued that not only physical, but also mental features, and the characteristics of children are determined equally by both the heredity of the father and mother. At the time, these ideas did not seem obvious.

After studying the biographies of 400 talented scientists, tracing their family relationships, Galton rejected the view that gifted people have poor health (then the language of "weak body"), he argued that most great people are "strong animals".

Galton drew attention to the fact that among the great scientists born in Great Britain, there are a lot of first-borns. Since then, the study of first and only children and the influence of birth order has remained an attractive problem for psychologists. Some scientists believe that the first and only children in the family develop better, have higher marks in intelligence tests, have a high need for achievement, and study better at school and universities.

Galton wrote more than 30 works on the problem of heredity. The scientist argued that traits such as a tendency to be a drunkard, a passion for travel, illness, longevity, even morality and religion are inherited. Galton expressed an opinion about the possibility of creating the science of "eugenics" (introduced this term, translated from Greek means "the science of the birth of the good"). In his opinion, such a science should contribute to the birth of "quality" people and counteract the birth of "poor quality". He believed that public attention was needed to maintain intellectual level due to procreation. The scientist reasoned rather straightforwardly: if one were to choose from the general mass of talented people and marry them, then this would contribute to the creation of a new highly gifted human race. Galton was fascinated by the idea of ​​breeding work to select talented men and women. For such people, the scientist suggested creating state projects and encouraging them financially. Galton noticed that members of the intellectual elite have fewer children because they marry later. Therefore, worthy members of society should be encouraged to create families in young age, had benefits for the purchase of good housing. Galton himself and his brothers had no children.

In the future, eugenics turned into a set of inhumane ideas that totalitarian regimes willingly used for their reactionary purposes, but this is not Galton's fault. He sought only to draw attention to the fact that the factors of heredity cannot be ignored in the process of personality development. Galton saw this as an opportunity to improve the lives of future generations and disapproved of mere "sentiment towards poor people." The ideas of the scientist were purely academic in nature, the eyelash romantically dreamed of a galaxy of geniuses.

Thanks to Galton, the publication of the journal "Biometrics" was founded, he financed the laboratory of national eugenics, in which he took the place of professor. Subsequently, fortunately for Galton, this place was taken by Karl Pearson. The idea to conduct research in the field of eugenics, of course, today is perceived as rather archaic and unconvincing, but Galton's example inspired researchers in the difficult task of finding scientific ground in the psychology of individual differences. AT modern world medical and psychological counseling in planning the birth of a child is used quite widely, since scientists are guided in the problem of hereditary conditioning much more accurately.

Having become acquainted with the works of the outstanding Belgian astronomer and statistician Quetelet, who formulated the concept of the "law of errors" (normal distribution) and argued that this law is also subject to physical characteristics of people, Galton decided to test whether he would be subject to measurements of intellectual ability. The scientist conducted a statistical analysis of the biographies of prominent people and again came to the conclusion that abilities are inherited, since prominent people were quite often blood relatives.

Galton stubbornly sought evidence of the hereditary nature of individual differences. In order to obtain such facts, he organized an anthropometric laboratory at the International Health Exhibition in London in 1884-1885. Visitors to the exhibition paid three pence for various anthropometric measurements (strength, sensory acuity, reaction time). It was these indicators that Galton considered signs of mental capabilities. More than 9,000 subjects passed through this laboratory, which worked for 6 years.

Many devices for anthropometric and psychometric measurements were created in the laboratory, the methods and indicators of this institution are still used by anthropometrists today. Collected data 100 years later in 1985. Analyzed by American researchers. After conducting such measurements, they found that there is a high correlation between Galton's data and modern indicators, which indicates the reliability of the scientist's data. It turned out that the indicators of weight, arm span, lung capacity and arm strength are close to modern, but the pace of development in Galton's time was slow.

After the exhibition was over, the scientist located branches of his laboratory in different places in London and accumulated data on various dimensions of a person. In 1885, Galton opened a permanent laboratory at London's South Kenigston Museum to collect data on men, women, and children. The laboratory measured arm span, lung volume, evaluated the reaction rate, the ability to distinguish colors, tested vision and hearing. As a scientist, Galton was primarily interested in the variability of psychological and anthropometric characteristics and its causes. When the researcher got acquainted with the collection of fingerprints of his friend William Herschel, which he had been collecting for no reason for 30 years, Galton gave the order to also take fingerprints from visitors. The museum's laboratory was a great success, and visitors thought it was good manners to go through all the measurements made by Galton's assistant, Sergeant Randle. All data fell into the Galton archive. It was on their basis that the scientist subsequently discovered fingerprinting.

Galton is considered the researcher who first used the questionnaire. He sent questionnaires to members of the Royal Societies, and also asked the general public to send questionnaires describing family talents and gifts, and even offered special prizes for this. Collecting data on the basis of this very detailed questionnaire, he wrote the monograph "English scientists, their nature and education" (1874). He first analyzed psychological features scientists, made the personality of a scientist an object of empirical research.

Galton examined 800 brothers. He even conducted experiments with rabbits, butterflies and peas, studying heredity.

Collecting various data and conducting research, Galton also improved the methods of mathematical data processing. He believed that statistics is "the only tool that can cut through the thick thickets of difficulties that block the way for those who persistently develop the science of man."

Galton discovered the law of regression as the law of inheritance of traits: any traits of offspring tend to come closer to the population mean than to the value of this parameter in their parents (features regress to the population mean). In 1888, the scientist eventually published the work Natural Heredity, in which he summarized the results of all his empirical and statistical studies and explained his new discovery - the correlation coefficient (the degree of connection between features). The book was of extreme importance for the development of psychological research, Galton's ideas were relevant, and researchers continued to develop the correlation method. With Galton's support, his student Karl Pearson developed a formula that came to be known as Pearson's correlation coefficient. The first letter is used to designate the coefficient. English word regression (regression), in memory of Galton's discovery that hereditary traits approaching (regressing) towards the mean. Correlation soon became a common research tool in various sciences, not only in psychology.

Galton belongs to the priority of creating psychological tests, although it is believed that the term "test" was first used by James Cattell, an American psychologist, a student of Galton. The idea of ​​the test as a method of measuring individual differences, and in particular intelligence, is connected with Galton's search for evidence for such a hypothesis: intelligence can be measured by evaluating a person's sensory abilities; the higher the intelligence of a person, the higher should be the sensory abilities. Galton believed that the most gifted people in line with subtle and developed feelings. Modern studies have found that mentally retarded people are often able to distinguish between sensory sensations (J. Lovinger, 1987).

Galton, in an effort to find evidence for this hypothesis, developed various instruments for sensory measurements. He, in particular, invented a special whistle, which he used for constant experiments, both with people and with animals. He liked to walk around London parks with this whistle and some other devices, to see what kind of reaction the sounds that he extracts from his inventions cause. Like many of the early psychologists, Galton invented various devices: a photometer (for distinguishing colors), a calibrated pendulum (for determining the reaction time to light and sound), a set of scales (for assessing kinetic or muscle sensitivity), a special rail with markings (for assessing the length segments), a set of bottles with various substances(to test the sense of smell). These devices were later used for decades in psychological laboratories, and the Galtonian whistle until the 30s of the XX century. was an indispensable device in every psychological laboratory.

Galton became interested in fingerprinting and provided a scientific justification for the fingerprinting method as a possible way to recognize people and identify them, although the method, as already mentioned, was developed by William Hershel in 1860 in India, and was first used in the practice of investigation by Henry Foulds. However, criminologists were not sure that there really were no two people with the same fingerprints. Galton analyzed a huge number of fingerprints and mathematically substantiated the practical impossibility of their coincidence. He was also the first to guess that a system of catalogs and registration of fingerprints should be created. Based on the research of I. Purkinje, who found the main types of patterns that repeat in papillary patterns (spirals, ellipses, circles, double twists), Galton studied 5000 patterns on the fingers of 500 people and determined that there are four main types, and all of them are formed from them. other combinations. He discovered that they do not change during life, and in case of damage (wounds, burns) they are restored again. Galton's results formed the basis modern systems identification of a person by fingerprints. Galton's research was completed by Edward Henry, who created a fingerprint formula and system called Galton-Henry.

The discovery of fingerprinting was a sensation late XIX in. All European newspapers printed a photo of Galton on the front page. In 1892, the scientist published in London the book "Fingerprints", in which he outlined the results of his research. In 1895, Scotland Yard began to use fingerprinting, which greatly accelerated the detection of crimes, and in 1900 it became the official metol of this organization. This discovery was especially appreciated in 1911, when the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci "La Gioconda" was stolen from the Louvre. Fingerprints were preserved on the glass of the frame, so a thief was caught behind them. After this successful investigation, the controversial method spread around the world.

Galton constantly experimented and used every opportunity to do so. Walking the streets, looking at objects and counting associations and new ideas. Having made an appropriate analysis of their content, he was disappointed that the associations were mainly related to past experience and were not a path to the discovery of new ideas.

To study associations, Galton conducted such an experiment. He made a list of 75 words, each of which he wrote down on a separate piece of paper. A week later, looking at the sheet, he recorded the time of occurrence of two associations caused by each word with the help of a chronometer. Associations were most often in the form of one word, sometimes they were images, imaginary pictures that were difficult to describe in one or two words. Galton analyzed that 40% of total associations have their source in childhood experience. The conducted experiment demonstrated the influence of childhood impressions on the personality of an adult and began one of the lines of study of mental development.

The method of association analysis played a big role in the development of psychology, it was one of the first truly scientific tools for revealing psychological reality, it was also improved by W. Wundt, Freud, K. Jung.

Galton pioneered the widespread use of questionnaires. At first, he asked mainly his acquaintances, scientists, about everything, for example, what they remember from the impressions of this morning and what kind of image it is, what are its characteristics. Appealing to a wider circle of people with the same question, Galton came to the conclusion that women and children have images that are more specific and detailed than others.

Galton's penchant for research and his ingenuity gave rise to the legend of one of his exploration walks. The scientist decided to stay in the state of a mentally ill person who thinks that she is being persecuted. He summarized his impressions of the walk as follows: at the end it seemed to him that every horse in the London street was watching him, and when she did not even look in his direction, he thought that she was only hiding her observation.

Galton loved counting and used every opportunity to do so. At the university or in the theater, he counted the number of coughs or yawns and interpreted this as a measure of the annoyance of the public. At a session with the artist, he counted the number of strokes and found out that for a completed painting, the artist makes 20,000 strokes.

The scientist came up with a special system for calculations, where smells were used instead of numbers, and smells were assigned the corresponding digital values. As a result of these intellectual exercises, he wrote the original article "The Arithmetic of Odors", published in the first issue of the Psychological Review (one of the first psychological journals in the United States).

Starting his life as an unlucky student who studied worse than others and could not justify the hopes of his father, at the end of his life Galton became a celebrity, the attention of all Europe was riveted in his work, he was known as a progressive thinker, passionate speaker, tireless traveler, discoverer of sciences and a lover of paradoxes, he was respected by both scientists and representatives of the church.

Galton was also extremely active creative personality, explored the influence geographical factors on the characteristics of the population, fashion, athletics, the influence of prayers. In order to be able to consider what he is interested in when you are in the crowd, the researcher invented a special periscope. Galton also invented a teletypewriter, a device for opening locks.

Galton, like many of the first psychologists, was an eccentric person, he was looking for scientific evidence for the existence of God and dreamed of finding a recipe for immortality. In 1909 Galton was knighted. He was a member of London's prestigious Ateneum literary club.

The scientist made a significant contribution to various sciences. In meteorology, he identified the phenomenon of an anticyclone and invented weather maps, worked on maps of West Africa, developed regression in statistics and correlation analysis In psychology, he discovered the phenomenon of synesthesia. His love of counting and measuring helped Galton advance in various industries. Psychology did not belong to the main interests of the scientist, but his achievements in this area were significant. He launched research into problems that have captivated psychologists for a long time.

Galton was one of the first aptitude researchers. In the book "Study of human abilities and their development" (1883), he first formulated the ideas of psychological testing. The scientist himself developed tests for his research. Although they were not successful, the very idea of ​​developing test trials is a significant contribution to psychology. Galton was also the first to study identical twins.

The scientist invented a number of experimental devices and psychological methods(the method of twins, the method of analyzing memory that is figurative to us, the associative method), which are considered classical in psychology. Based on these methods of conducting an incredible number contemporary research and valuable results have been obtained. Galton conducted perhaps the first studies in which he was both experimenter and subject, studying associations of ideas and visual images. The developments of the scientist formed the basis of a new psychological science - differential psychology. By proposing a statistical method, the idea of ​​developing test methods, Galton changed general form contemporary psychology. He turned her into modern science. But he did not have time to complete the creation of the theory of immortality.

When Galton died, his student Karl Pearson published a genealogical study about his teacher. It turned out that among the ancestors of Galton were Emperor Charlemagne, several English kings, specifically William the Conqueror, and Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise.

Sir Francis Galton (Golton; English Francis Galton; February 16, 1822 - January 17, 1911) - English explorer, geographer, anthropologist and psychologist; founder of differential psychology and psychometrics, statistician. Born in Birmingham, England.

Biography

Origin

Galton was Charles Darwin's cousin by their grandfather, Erasmus Darwin. His father was Samuel Tertius Galton, son of Samuel "John" Galton. The Galton family was famous and highly successful in arms and banking, while the Darwins were famous in the fields of medicine and science.

Both of these families could boast that their representatives were members of the Royal Society of London, which in the future became the British equivalent of the Academy of Sciences, and liked to invent in free time. Both Erasmus Darwin and Samuel Galton were among the founders of the famous Birmingham Lunar Society, whose members included: Matthew Bolton, James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood, Joseph Priestley and other prominent scientists and entrepreneurs. Also, both families boasted literary talents: Erasmus Darwin, known for creating long technical treatises (textbooks) in verse form, and Aunt Marie Anna Galton, known for writing on aesthetics and religion and her famous autobiography, which describes in detail the unique environment of her childhood, consisting from members of the Lunar Society.

Chronology

He showed talent early: from the age of one and a half he knew all the letters of the alphabet, read independently from two and a half years old, wrote with three years. From 1838 he studied medicine: Birmingham Hospital, medical school London, in 1839 "King's College" - medical department.

In 1840 he entered the University of Cambridge (Trinity College) to study mathematics and natural sciences. In 1844 his father died, Francis did not complete medical education and devoted the rest of his life to scientific activity. In 1849 he publishes the first scientific report on the development of a printed telegraph - "teletype". He traveled extensively, including with expeditions to the Middle East and South Africa. In 1854 received gold medal Geographical Society for an account of an African voyage.

In 1855 he published the books The Art of Traveling and Notes on Modern Geography. Since 1856 a member of the Royal Society. Since the late 1850s he has been engaged in climatology and meteorology. Publishes a paper on the climate of Zanzibar. The first to produce meteorological maps of Europe. Opens the phenomenon of anticyclone. After the publication of the book Origin of Species, his cousin Charles Darwin became a biologist. In the 1860s, he developed the problem of the inheritance of various traits in humans and animals. In 1864 he published the Guide to Switzerland. In 1865 articles: "Hereditary talent and character", "First steps towards the domestication of animals."

In 1869, the book "Hereditary Genius" - the crown scientific work one of the periods of his work (The book analyzes extensive material on "outstanding people." In his reasoning, he came to an understanding of the phenomenon of the normal distribution of signs in the human population (this discovery is attributed to Quetelet)). In 1872, the article "herding in cows and humans." In the late 1870s, he developed a methodology for psychometric research. He publishes many articles, invents the first devices for psychometric experiments (including Galton's whistle). In 1884, at the International Health Exhibition in Kensington, he opened the world's first anthropometric laboratory. Develops a method of composite portraits.

After publications in Nature by G. Foulds and W. Herschel in 1880, he began to be interested in skin patterns on human fingers. In 1892, the monograph on fingerprints "Finger prints" summarizes research in this area and lays down the basic principles of dermatoglyphics (the invariance of finger patterns throughout life, a strict individuality and a simple possibility of classifying into three types - arcs (arches), loops, curls). Engaged in biological statistics, he was the first to suggest how to calculate the correlation coefficient. He proposed the law of regression of hereditary traits, which marked a whole era in Domdelevsky genetics.

Born in 1822 in Birmingham. His childhood was spent in a wealthy family, all members of which were passionate about science. His mother was the daughter of Erasmus Darwin, a prominent scientist who was the grandfather of Charles Darwin. F. Galton received a bachelor's degree from the University of Cambridge (1844) after a somewhat unsystematic study of medicine, and then mathematics. Having received a large inheritance, he was relieved of the need to take care of a scientific career. Undertakes long journeys, reports of which and meteorological observations brought him many honorary titles, election to the Royal scientific society and public recognition. In the early 1860s he is increasingly beginning to be occupied with the inheritance of physical features and the mind of a person. The idea of ​​improving the human race lead Galton to psychometry, or the measurement of the mind, corresponding to psychological and psychophysiological research. Empirical studies of Galton were carried out simultaneously with the development of the mathematical and statistical apparatus. He discovered the correlation coefficient, created the first tests to measure the mind. The enduring significance of Galton's research for psychological science is that thanks to his pioneering work, a science of individual psychological differences and their measurement arose. Galton died in 1911, having provided funding for research in the field of biometrics and eugenics in his will.

stay. Convinced that the human race is subject to degeneration and needs to be improved by purposeful selection, he seeks to create a method of measuring abilities for the selection of people: “Psychometry, it must be firmly said, means the art of measuring and numbering the operations of the mind (mind), like, for example, determining the reaction time of different individuals. As long as the phenomena of some branch of knowledge are not subject to measurement and number, they cannot acquire the status and dignity of science” 1 .

Based on both his own observations and the provisions of the philosophical teachings of J. Locke, F. Galton suggested that using the features of sensory discrimination, one can evaluate the mind (intelligence) of a person. In 1883, he formulated his idea of ​​measuring the mind: “All the information we perceive about external events comes to us through the channels of our senses; the more subtle differences a person's senses can perceive, the more opportunities he has for forming judgments and exercising intellectual activity.

F. Galton improves the already known experimental psychological methods for determining sensitivity thresholds, reaction time, and creates new ones. Some of them, such as a whistle to determine the limit of perception of the pitch and a ruler to visually distinguish the length, still exist and are named after him.

In 1884, at the London International Exhibition of Medical Equipment, Means and Methods of Health Protection, F. Galton introduced the general public to the tests he had created. Any of the visitors to the anthropometric laboratory he opened could measure his “abilities” (F. Galton considered anthropometry to be the art of measuring the physical and mental properties of people).

1 Galton Fr. Psychometric experiment. - Brain, 1879. V. 2. P. 148-157.

Testing was carried out on seventeen indicators, including brush strength and impact force, visual acuity, lung capacity, color discrimination, memorization of objects, etc. After the exhibition closed in 1885, F. Galton moved his laboratory to the South Kensington Museum and throughout six years he measured 9,000 people.

It should be especially noted that F. Galton turned out to be an innovator in the field statistical procedures in psychology, without which it is impossible to analyze data on individual differences. In 1888 he proposes correlation coefficient calculation method(an article based on a report of 1888 was published the following year). He writes: “Two variable organs are considered correlated when a change in one of them is accompanied, in general, by a greater or lesser change in the other organ and in the same direction. Thus, the length of the arm is considered to be correlated with that of the leg, because a person with a long arm usually has a long leg, and vice versa.

Galton calculated the correlation coefficient in anthropometry and in heredity studies. Statistical study of the phenomenon regression in heredity is directly related to the concept of correlation: “Regression is explained as follows. A child inherits partly from his parents, partly from his ancestors. Generally speaking, the further back his genealogy goes, the more numerous and varied his ancestors become, until they become different from a group of people, equal in number, taken from the race as a whole. Their average height will be the same as that of the race, in other words, it will be average.” This is the one discovered by Galton regression law. He also calculated that if each individual inherits half of its characteristics from both parents, one quarter from two grandparents, and so on, then the result is a decreasing series, the sum of whose members tends to be equal to one. This is the point inheritance law properties of ancestors to descendants. Galton tried to understand heredity in terms of correlation and believed that family resemblance is a special case of a vast area of ​​correlation. It turns out that heredity is a correlation between the degree of relationship and the degree of similarity. Naturally, he extended this law to the inheritance of intellect. Although these Galtonian laws are of only historical interest today, nevertheless, for their time they were innovative works. Galton also introduced a method of mathematical description of the "ogive" (arc) depicting the Gaussian curve. Works in this direction laid the psychometric foundation of psychodiagnostics.

Here it is appropriate to recall the man with whom Galton worked side by side for many years. it karl pearson, who was a brilliant mathematician and biographer of Galton. Pearson improved the mathematical apparatus for calculating the correlation. As a result, the Pearson correlation coefficient, widely known today even to students, appeared. He also developed the non-parametric coefficient rf-square. These coefficients are widely used in psychodiagnostic research, thanks to them the tradition of using quantitative methods in the development and application of psychological tests is established.

Being the creator of the first intelligence tests, F. Galton was also the first to raise the question of measuring personal(characterological) features

Born February 16, 1822 in a town near Birmingham. His cousin was Charles Darwin and his grandfather was Erasmus Darwin. Francis received medical and biological education and intended to become a doctor, but, having inherited a rather large fortune after the death of his father, which allowed him not to depend on medical practice, he decided to devote himself to scientific research and travel. On numerous expeditions, Galton studied peoples from primitive material culture. Especially successful were his studies in southwest Africa (1850-1852), for which in 1853 he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. In subsequent years, Galton was engaged in meteorology: he built weather maps and applied statistical methods to process them, which allowed him to discover anticyclones and explain their nature. Great importance had his anthropological research, which found application in forensic science (in particular, in fingerprinting and the creation of identikit images) and laid the foundations for a new direction in science - biometric genetics.

big role in scientific biography Galton was played by the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859). In an effort to explain the individual characteristics of people, Galton introduced the concept of heredity into psychology and anthropology. He analyzed a number of biographies of prominent people, trying to find out how often they were related to each other. From these studies, Galton concluded that high intellectual abilities are largely determined by hereditary factors, but many other circumstances influence their implementation. The result of his work was the book Inheritance talent (Hereditary Genius), published in 1869. These studies laid the foundations of differential psychology. To measure psychophysical differences, Galton invented special devices (ultrasonic whistle, which allows measuring auditory sensitivity, etc.). He developed methods for determining abilities, which served as the basis for the subsequently created test system, introduced methods of statistical data processing, in particular, a method for determining correlations between measured values.

In Inquiries into Human Faculty (1883), Galton first introduced the term "eugenics", meaning by this the theory of heredity, human health and ways to improve the human race by controlling hereditary traits. Based on his eugenic views, he created a model of a utopian society. In the last ten years of the scientist's life, eugenics was the main subject of his interests. During this period, the Galton Laboratory at University College London was founded and the Francis Galton Fellowship for researchers in the field of eugenics was established. In 1908, the Eugenic Educational Society (now the Eugenic Society) was established in London, and Galton became its first honorary president. From 1849 to 1910 he published more than 200 articles and lectures on a wide range of issues. In 1909 Galton was knighted. Galton died in Hazelmere (Surrey) on January 17, 1911.

Biography

Origin

Galton was Charles Darwin's cousin by their grandfather, Erasmus Darwin. His father was Samuel Tertius Galton, son of Samuel "John" Galton. The Galton family was famous and highly successful in arms and banking, while the Darwins were famous in the fields of medicine and science.

Both of these families could boast that their representatives were members of the Royal Society of London, which in the future became the British equivalent of the Academy of Sciences, and loved to invent in their spare time. Both Erasmus Darwin and Samuel Galton were among the founders of the famous Birmingham Lunar Society, whose members included: Matthew Bolton, James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood, Joseph Priestley and other prominent scientists and entrepreneurs. Also, both families boasted literary talents: Erasmus Darwin, known for creating long technical treatises (textbooks) in verse form, and Aunt Marie Anna Galton, known for writing on aesthetics and religion and her famous autobiography, which describes in detail the unique environment of her childhood, consisting from members of the Lunar Society.

Chronology

He showed talent early: from the age of one and a half he knew all the letters of the alphabet, read independently from the age of two and a half, wrote from the age of three. From studying medicine: Birmingham Hospital, London Medical School, to King's College ("King's College") - medical department. He entered the University of Cambridge (Trinity College) to study mathematics and natural sciences. When his father died, Francis did not complete his medical education and devoted the rest of his life to scientific work. In publishes the first scientific report on the development of a printed telegraph - "teletype". He traveled extensively, including on expeditions to the Middle East and South Africa. B received a gold medal from the Geographical Society for his report on an African journey. He publishes the books The Art of Traveling and Notes on Modern Geography. C Fellow of the Royal Society. Since the late 1850s he has been involved in climatology and meteorology. Publishes a paper on the climate of Zanzibar. The first to produce meteorological maps of Europe. Opens the phenomenon of anticyclone. After the publication of the book On the Origin of Species, his cousin Charles Darwin became a biologist. In the 1860s, he developed the problem of the inheritance of various traits in humans and animals. In published "Guide to Switzerland". In the articles: "Hereditary talent and character", "First steps towards the domestication of animals."

AT last years life was engaged in the development of the basic provisions of the science of eugenics on the creation of an ideal person in all respects.

Scientific interests and achievements

He served as General Secretary from 1863 to 1867, President of the Geographical Division in 1867 and 1872 and President of the Anthropological Division in 1877 and 1885. He was an active member of the Council of the Royal Geographical Society for more than forty years, on various committees of the Royal Society. and the Meteorological Council.

The circle of questions to which Sir Galton devoted his time was extremely wide. He was a very erudite person, which allowed him to make serious contributions to many fields of science, including meteorology (anticyclone and the first public weather maps), statistics (regression and correlation), psychology (synesthesia), biology (the nature and mechanisms of heredity) and forensics ( fingerprints). He highly appreciated and widely applied mathematical methods in practice. Many discoveries were made by him precisely because of his penchant for counting or measuring.

Psychology

Known for his research on human intelligence. He devoted a whole book to them, "The Study of Human Capabilities and Their Development", which describes the basics of psychological testing.

Genetics

Dealt with issues of heredity, the first began the study of identical twins. Found that some human traits are clearly inherited. He developed the doctrine of hereditary conditioning of individual psychological differences between people.

Acoustics

Galton invented one of the first sources of ultrasound - Galton's whistle, the design of which turned out to be so simple and effective that its modifications were subsequently used to generate infrasound.

Fingerprinting

Provided the scientific rationale for the use of fingerprints in forensics. The method of identifying criminals by their fingerprints was developed in the 1860s by William Herschel in India, and its potential use in judicial practice was first proposed by Dr. Henry Foulds in 1880. But the implementation of the method in judicial practice hampered by the lack of certainty that no two people could have the same fingerprints. It was Galton who, having analyzed a large number of fingerprints obtained from volunteers, mathematically substantiated the practical impossibility of matching fingerprints in people.

Eugenics

Some of the ideas that are now in the realm of eugenics existed before Galton. He first systematized them on the basis of evolutionary doctrine. He also coined the term "eugenics".

In his cousin Charles' Origin of Species, he was most interested in one of the first chapters, "Variation in Domesticated Animals." Inspired by what he had read, he began a thorough study of variability and heredity in humans. Galton outlined the results of his work in the book "Hereditary Genius" (Eng. "Hereditary genius")

In his studies he widely used experimental and statistical methods. Invented a number of devices and experimental procedures ("twin method", method of figurative memory analysis, associative method). To determine the heritability of abilities, he studied the genealogy of outstanding people and found that among their relatives, the percentage of talented people (with abilities above average) exceeded the average percentage among the rest of the population.

In 1888, the scientific society "Royal Institute", interested in the anthropometric method of Bertillon, turned to Galton to evaluate this method and speak on this issue at one of the meetings of the society. Galton accepted the invitation and visited Bertillon's laboratory. In his report, he noted the thoroughness of anthropometric measurements and good organization. But in the report, he also noted that, apparently, in addition to the Bertillon system, there is another method of identification, namely fingerprints.

As early as 1885, he opened a permanent laboratory in London's South Keningstog Museum to collect statistics on men, women and children. He needed this for his studies on the inheritance of physical and mental features and abilities. In the laboratory, measurements were made of visitors' arm span, height, weight, arm strength, lung capacity, reaction speed, ability to distinguish colors, vision and hearing were evaluated. After Galton got acquainted with Herschel's article and with his collection of fingerprints, he ordered that fingerprints be taken from visitors in the laboratory at the museum. The laboratory in the museum was a success and interest among visitors, it was considered good form to undergo measurements and research, which was carried out by Galton's assistant, Sergeant Randle.

Three years later, Galton had a collection of fingerprints vastly superior to Herschel's. Galton made sure that there was no case that the patterns in the prints were repeated. But he was interested in another question, which neither Fulds nor Herschel reached in their research. This idea is to use fingerprints not only for reliable identification of a person, but instead of bertillonage, to create a system for registering and cataloging them. When studying historical works, Galton found that, for example, the Czech professor of physiology and pathology in Prague, Johann Purkinje, dealt with classification issues. In 1823, in his work "On the study of the physiology and skin of man," he attempted to classify the countless fingerprints that he became interested in during his examinations. Purkinje drew attention to big number the main types of patterns that were repeated in papillary patterns: spirals, ellipses, circles, double swirls, etc.

By careful study of a large number of patterns, Galton became convinced that there are four main types from which all other patterns are derived. He constantly met a triangular formation of papillary lines, located in the print either on the left or on the right. Other prints had two or more triangles. There were prints that did not have triangles in their patterns at all. This was the basis for the creation of a fingerprint registration system. In the future, Edward Henry will create a fingerprint formula and a classification system based on it, behind which the name Galton-Henry will be established in forensic science.

In 1853 he received the highest honor of the Royal Geographical Society- one of two gold medals awarded that year for his exploration and cartography of South West Africa. He was elected a member of the prestigious Athenaeum Club in 1855 and in 1860 was admitted to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. Throughout his career he has received all the major honors of the Victorian scientific institution. He was knighted in 1909, contracted tuberculosis the same year, and died on January 17, 1911.

Literature

1. Jürgen Thorwald. One hundred years of criminology. - Moscow, Progress Publishing House, 1974. S. 440.
2. Edmond Locard. Forensics guide. - Moscow, Legal Publishing House of the NKJU USSR, 1941. S. 544.
3. Mikhail Yaroshevsky. HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE MIDDLE XX CENTURY Proc. allowance. - M., 1996. - 416 p.
4. Ivan Kanaev. Francis Galton. - Leningrad, Nauka Publishing House, Leningrad branch, 1972. - 136 p.

see also

Links

Notes

Categories:

• Personalities in alphabetical order
• February 16
• Born in 1822
• Deceased January 17
• Deceased in 1911
• who died of tuberculosis
• Criminologists
• Fingerprinting
• Anthropologists UK
• Eugenics
• Charles Darwin
• Members of the Royal Society of London
• Recipients of the Darwin Medal
• UK statistics
• Recipients of the Copley Medal
• Geographers of Great Britain
• UK Psychologists

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See what "Galton, Francis" is in other dictionaries:

Galton (1822-1911), English biologist, psychologist and anthropologist. Grandson of E. Darwin, cousin of C. Darwin. One of the creators of biometrics, differential psychology, test methods, eugenics. The main works in anthropology and ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Galton, Francis Galton (February 16, 1822, Birmingham, January 17, 1911, London), English psychologist and anthropologist. He received medical and biological education and began his scientific activity in the field of geography and meteorology. G. were compiled ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia