Galton , Sir , Francis , 1822-1911 , Knight , eugenicist

Francis Galton was born in Birmingham and educated locally, at King's College medical school in London and at Trinity College Cambridge. He settled in London and was active in both the Royal Society and the Royal Geographical Society. Galton spent many years examining the nature of human heredity and his work on inheritance patterns led to important advanced in the statistical analysis of biological phenomena and the development of psychometric tests; his ideas on eugenics largely fell out of favour during the mid-20th century, however. He was knighted in 1909 and received the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1910.