Who Is Sir Francis Galton?

At this point, having discovered many wonderful things about Sir Francis Galton, and about statistical concepts, I remembered that my original goal was to find out whether there was really any connection between the Quincunx and Sir Francis. If he had indeed invented the Quincunx, what was its purpose? Although I had investigated numerous sources, none of them made a direct connection. Could it be that I was on the wrong trail? Could it be that the original crude document was in error?

At this very point in time, the Dallas Public Library finally located the magnificent volumes by Karl Pearson titled “The Life, Letters, and Labours of Francis Galton”.

In these volumes, one finds engravings and descriptions of the Quincunx (Figure 1). At last I have a documented tie between Sir Francis and the legendary Quincunx.

During this same time-frame, Janet Abrahams writes from England that her husband obtained his degree in statistics from University College London, and that he seems to remember that an old Quincunx was kept in storage at the University. Janet then put me in contact with June Rathbone, at the Galton Laboratory, the Department of Genetics and Biometry, University College, London, who is, among many other duties, the curator of what is called the “Galtoniana”; artefacts from Galton’s life.

What an amazing event in my adventure with Sir Francis Galton! I felt like the archaeologist in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Or as though I had found the Holy Grail of modern statistical thinking. Of course, many in England and elsewhere knew of the existence of the old Quincunx, but I doubt if one in a million in the U.S. had heard of it, or of Sir Francis, for that matter.

I wrote to June Rathbone, and she sent me a photocopy (Figure 2) of the old Quincunx. What a feeling of elation! The proof was complete.

And now I knew that I must see the old and honourable Quincunx firsthand.

Figure 3	Figure 4

So, I went to London, and June Rathbone brought up the old Quincunx, and it was touching to see how she treated it with reverence. We were in the Galton Laboratory, and it seems that whenever the Quincunx is brought out (a rare occurrence), the word gets around, and many of the faculty and staff come by for a look. I was very flattered to realise that although June would not normally allow anyone to touch the Quincunx, she did allow me to do so for the photographs (Figures 3 and 4). And June was ever so patient in showing me many other things from the “Galtoniana” collection.

While in London, I gave nearly this same lecture to the undergraduates in statistics at University College London. There was a good turnout of students, and several of the staff attended. Again, it was interesting to note that the students in the statistics department, which came into existence because of the foresight and benevolence of Sir Francis Galton, knew very little about him. So the lecture was well received, I was elated that June Rathbone attended, and I was invited to the faculty afternoon tea, which was a wonderful experience. Dr David, the head of the department was most hospitable, and Dr Stone, a renowned statistician and author was very gracious, and invited me to a meeting of the Royal Statistical Society at which he presented a paper. This in the very chambers where Francis Galton presented his ideas many years ago. All in all, it was quite a day for an American in London. But most of all, a tribute to Sir Francis Galton.

Now, let’s summarise briefly the astounding range of Francis Galton’s interests and contributions.

Let me preface these remarks by saying that this lecture is clearly biased by Sir Francis’ insights into powerful and heretofore unknown statistical methods. This is partially because this is where my own interests lie, but also because “statistical thinking” is used in many of his other works.

Let’s go over this list, keeping in mind that most people who desire to make a contribution to humanity would have been happy with only one or two of these listings. Take a moment to try to imagine how much energy, zeal, and hard work was required to achieve this monumental output.

(This is perhaps a reasonable place to point out that Galton achieved his output without benefit of computers, or calculators.)

And, although Sir Francis never attributed eminence to himself, it is clear that his example is a model for the type of person he thought capable of changing the world for the better.

Francis Galton was a pioneer and made significant contributions in the following subjects:

Geography - The first subject in which Sir Francis received recognition from his peers.

Meteorology - An outcome was the world’s first weather map.

Psychology - The first testing of humans for intelligence.

Genetics - The Father of Human Genetics

Photography - Composite Photography and high speed photography.

Anthropology - A pioneer in the study of human cultures and behaviour.

Statistics - Took Statistical Thinking from a subject of special interest to a subject of basic science.

Figure 5

In Figure 5 we see the great man at age 87, with his protégé and biographer Karl Pearson. In June of 1909 he receives word that he will be knighted on the King’s birthday, November 9, 1909.

Galton says that at first he thought he had received “a wine merchant’s circular”. Galton wrote back to Asquith, the Prime Minister saying that his health would not permit his attendance. So the patent of Knighthood was sent to him, making him perhaps the first mail order Knight.

Now, we haven’t had much time to discuss Sir Francis Galton’s personality, so let me close with this quotation from a contemporary:

“Sir Francis Galton was a combination of perfect aristocracy with complete democracy, directness, kindliness, and nobility beyond all measure.”

Wouldn’t we all feel we had done well, if that statement could be made about each of us?

This is the end of my lecture on Francis Galton FRS, a truly great man of history, whose legacy is still expanding. In the next instalment of my series of articles I will look at his legacy, especially to the science of statistics.