Francis Galton

His twelve year old sister, Adele suffered from a weak spine, but taught him Latin and Greek from her bed anyway.

In 1853 he returned to England to marry Louisa Jane Butler.

He died at the age of 88 on January 17th, 1911 in Haslemere, England. He was buried in the ‘St. Michael and All Angels Churchyard’ in Claverdon, England.

Sir Francis was born on February 16th, 1822 in Birmingham, England to Samuel Tertius Galton and Frances Anne Violetta Galton.

As a child, he was extremely intelligent and by the time he was five years old, his invalid sister had taught him how to read advanced literature, and as he grew older, his mother would hear him reciting from Chevy Chase, or Hudibras.

Both of his parents wanted him to become a medical doctor. He studied medicine at ‘Birmingham's General Hospital’ and later at the ‘Kings College’ in London.

In 1840, he decided to study mathematics at ‘Cambridge University’ instead of medicine.

After Galton's father passed away, he received a wealthy inheritance. He decided to abandon his studies and traveled around the British Isles, and even went to Egypt and Sudan.

In 1850, he decided to become an explorer and Geographer. He joined the ‘Royal Geography Society’ to explore a semi-unknown region of South Africa.

He charted and explored "Damaraland" and "Ovampoland," regions located in South Africa. He was accompanied by Charles Andersson, who ended up staying in the area.

Andersson and Galton's intention was to travel through Damaraland to Lake Ngami, but they weren't able to reach the lake, and decided to chart Ovampoland instead.

After returning to England in 1853, Galton became interested in meteorology, and created the first weather map. It was the first attempt to chart weather on a continental scale.

In 1865 he published ‘Hereditary Genius’, an investigation of the how heredity effected intellectual traits.

Galton's scientific approach to fingerprinting as identification process lead to positive findings of the Parliamentary Committee of 1894. Soon after, finger identification was accepted as testimony in courts, and to identify recidivists.

’Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa’ was a detailed account of his exploration in South Africa, successful because of his survival through an unknown area of Africa. He wrote a later novel entitled ‘The Art of Travel’, an enduring guide on traveling through the wilderness.

The paper ‘Eugenics: It's Definition, Scopes and Aims’ describes Galton's explanation of Eugenics and how it could be used to produce good and desirable hereditary traits within the human race. His goal was to promote a better society, and to potentially "breed" out sickliness and diseases.