Mini tweetutorials on Eugenics, Statistics, Medicine Eugenics, "well born", was coined by Francis Galton, a cousin of Darwin. In 1873 he wrote, "hereditary-improvement". It claims the wealthy are a superior "breed" with higher intelligence. Genetics does not support his claims 
His comments on post-famine Irish were popular in Britain at the time, and many non-English groups were portrayed by negative stereotypes. He repeated a popular racist caricature. Modern genetic maps show that Ireland and Britain are genetically close.
Galton's flawed thesis had vast impact. He founded and was the first president (1822-1911) of the British Eugenics Society. Members included H.G Wells (1886-1946), politician Winston Churchill (1874-1965), birth-control advocate Mary Stopes (1880-1958). eugenicsarchive.ca
In 1889, Galton published "Natural Inheritance", Clearly flawed as pointed out by Hiram M. Stanley at the time. His theories continued to gain popularity nature.com/articles/04064…
He had several other publications with an oversimplified and frequently racist view of genetics. (eugenicsarchive.ca). The structure of the human genome wouldn't be known for another 50 years. The sequence of the human genome would be a century later. His influence grew
In 1918, Charles Davenport founded the Galton Society of North America, an aristocratic select society that had a huge influence. They promoted sterilization programs for the unfit and ‘inferior races,’ immigration restriction by race, anti-miscegenation (race mixing) laws
One of the most famous proponents of these theories in the United States was President Theodore Roosevelt, who warned that the failure of couples of Anglo-Saxon heritage to produce large families would lead to “race suicide.” exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/eugenics/2-ori…
American, Henry Goddard (1866-1957) influenced by Binet wrote “The Kallikak family” in 1912 and it became a bible of sorts for proponents of eugenics who argued that "feeble-mindedness" was a hereditary taint” and/or intelligence was a measure of the higher breed (and class)
The Binet–Simon test has a very specific use case in education. But Goddard expanded IQ testing, to include more cateogories idiot, imbecile, moron. He was particularly focused on moron, (mental age 8-12) who he believed were unfit for society and should be removed.
Goddard applied IQ tests at Ellis Island and “proved” Jews, Catholics, southern Europeans were inferior. He categorized 83% Jews, 80% Hungarians,79% Italians, 87% Russians as feebleminded. His work paved the way for the 1924 Immigration Restriction Act. latimes.com/archives/la-xp…
Congress heard IQ tests "proof" that Southern, Eastern Europe race were a threat. Henry Laughlin, of Eugenics Record Office, testified >75 % new immigrants were feeble-minded. In 1924 quotas for incoming immigrants were set to 3%nationality in USA in 1890 pbs.org/fmc/segments/p…
Back to statistics, prominent statistical tests we use were created to support these flawed theses. We have a duty to recognize this past. Charles Spearman developed factor analysis to analyze IQ data, and was strongly influenced by the work of Francis Galton.
Karl Pearson who described Principal Component Analysis, Pearson Correlation, and other important statistical tools, was the Galton Professor of Eugenics at University College, London
These early 20th century theories arose when we didn't have modern genetics, the genome sequence or an understanding of epigenetics. These articles are frequently conjecture, have poorly designed studies and insufficient data to support their conclusions. They don't hold up.
Intelligence tests have a place in education (as Bidet proposed) but IQ tests do not measure one's contribution to society. We can't predict that from genetics or facial features. Even SAT scores poorly predict graduation rates or success thereafter. Diversity is our strength.
We're at an exciting time in genetics with thousands of human genomes sequenced. However, the biggest thing we have learned.. is that we have a lot to learn. I'm excited for the next 20 years.. as we unravel epigenetics, multi-cellular interactions. Tweetutorial END
