Person Pearson; Karl (1857 - 1936); statistician and eugenicist Pearson Karl statistician and eugenicist Carl 1857 - 1936 British Male London, England 27 March 1857 Coldharbour, Surrey 27/04/1936 19360427

Applied mathematics Biometry Statistics Eugenics Education: William Penn's School, Harrow (1863-1866); University College School (1866-1873); privately tutored in Cambridge (1873-1875); King's College, Cambridge, graduated BA (1875-1879); Heidelberg and Berlin (1879-1880). MA; LLB Career: entered Lincoln's Inn (1880) and called to the bar (1881); substitute lecturer in mathematics at King's College and University College, London; Goldsmid Professor of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics, University College, London (1884); founded the Men and Womens Club (1885); Gresham College Chair of Geometry (1891-1893); established a Biometric Laboratory at University College, London (1901); founded the journal 'Biometrika' with W. F. R. Weldon (1901); director of the Eugenics Record Office, later the Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics (1907); first Galton Professor of Eugenics (1911-1933); the department engaged in war service, including for Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section of the Munitions Inventions Department (1916-1918). Honours: Huxley Medal, Royal Anthropological Institute (1903); Rudolf Virchow Medal, Anthropological Society of Berlin (1932); LLD (University of St. Andrews); DSc (University College, London); Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge (1903), Royal Society of Edinburgh and University College, London. Father William Pearson K.C. (d.1907) barrister, and mother Fanny Smith (d.1907). Married: 1) Maria Sharpe (1890); 2) Margaret Victor Child (1929). One son and two daughters to his first marriage, his son Egon Sharpe Pearson (FRS 1966). Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to 'improve' the physiological qualities of a human population, usually along lines of physical and mental ability. These practices have been characterised as sometimes embracing 'positive' measures, such as encouraging individuals deemed particularly fit to reproduce; and/or 'negative' measures, such as marriage prohibitions and voluntary or forced sterilization of people deemed unfit. The history of eugenics (a term coined by Francis Galton) began in the mid 19th and early 20th centuries. It was generally linked to negative views of race and class. A popular eugenics movement emerged in the United Kingdom, tied in with the thinking of physiological anthropologists, interpretations of Darwinism and natural selection, and the rise of statistical modeling and quantative analysis in science. Medals and prizes: Darwin Medal 1898 Fellow 04/06/1896 Sources: Bulloch's Roll; ODNB; DSB Obituaries: L. N. G. Filon, 'Karl Pearson 1857-1936)', Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1936-1938 v.2 pp.73-110, plate. Egon Sharpe Pearson, 'Karl Pearson: an appreciation of some aspects of his life and work (Cambridge UP, 1938) Lyndsay Andrew Farrall, 'The origin and growth of the English eugenics movement, 1865-1925', PhD thesis, Indiana University. Reprinted as STS Occassional paper no.9, (UCL London, 2019) Bernard Norton and E. S. Pearson, 'A note on the background to, and refereeing of, R A Fisher's 1918 Paper "On the Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance"' in NR v.31 (1976-77) pp.151-162 Meg Weston Smith, 'E. A. Milne and the creation of air defence: some letters from an unprincipled brigand, 1916-1919' in NR v.44 (1990) pp.241-255 A. W. F. Edwards, 'R. A. Fisher on Karl Pearson' in NR v.48 (1994) pp 97-106, plate Sahotra Sarkar, 'J B S Haldane and R A Fisher's draft Life of Karl Pearson' in NR 1995 v.49 (1995) pp.119-124 David C. Watt, 'Lionel Penrose, FRS (1898-1972) and eugenics: part one' in NR v.52 (1998) pp.137-151 Theodore M. Porter, 'Karl Pearson: the scientific life in a statistical age', (Princeton UP, 2004). ©The Royal Society International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Isaac Todhunter, [ed. Karl Pearson] 'A history of the theory of the strength of materials, from Galilei to the present time' (Cambridge U.P., 1886) Karl Pearson, 'The new Werther (1880); 'The ethic of freethought' (London, 1888); 'The grammar of science' (London, 1892); 'Mathematical contributions to the theory of evolution' (18 papers, various dates); The life, letters and labours of Francis Galton (Cambridge U.P., 1914). https://pictures.royalsociety.org/image-rs-13330 27 Mar 1857 - 27 Apr 1936 NA8002 21/11/2001 Andyg Pmab 28/03/2023 RS_NET\JonathanB Yes http://viaf.org/viaf/34522718 e5a9907c-5e97-4c3a-b1ea-d86736042e55