What is Eugenics?
Through the below resources you can find out about UCL’s history and legacy of eugenics, and how racism, ableism, sexism and class warfare are embedded in our ways of thinking about and perceiving others.
"Eugenics refers to the philosophy and practice of selective breeding of humans with desirable (or “superior”) hereditary traits. The term was coined by the scientist Francis Galton in his 1883 book, Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development." (Source: Making and Mobilising Difference)
"Eugenics targeted specific groups - there are clear links between Galton’s eugenics, imperialism and national socialism. The racist, classist and ableist ideas at its core are directly linked to atrocities against millions of people. The ideas of eugenics are visible in medicine, sociology, social policy, genetic science, law, archaeology and anthropology. Around the world, eugenics of one form or another is implicated in: compulsory sterilization; legislation on mental deficiency; immigration law and racist policies; the notion of natural intelligence; normalisation of segregation by race, ability and class." (Source: UCL History of Eugenics Inquiry Report, page 7)
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Please note: This programme addresses eugenics and its legacies. Our content deals with conversations about racism, colonialism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and class warfare. Please take care when accessing any resources.
Bricks + Mortals uncovers a history hidden in plain sight, telling the story of the pivotal role UCL played in establishing the science of eugenics and considers how we have chosen to remember it through building names.
Most people associate the term “eugenics” with the Nazis and the horrors of the Holocaust. But the story of eugenics actually started in Britain, conceived of and developed by Francis Galton, probably the most important scientist that most people have never heard of.
How are racism, ableism, sexism and class warfare embedded in our ways of thinking about and perceiving others? What can we do to challenge and dismantle those ideas and structures? As a university and a community of researchers: what does eugenics mean to us?
A virtual exhibition on the history of eugenics and scientific racism at UCL as told through objects in its collection, featuring the work of staff and students from the UCL Institute of Archaeology and Sarah Parker Remond Centre.
On this BBC Radio 4 series, UCL's Adam Rutherford presents the story of eugenics from its origins in the middle-class salons of Victorian Britain, through the Fitter Family competitions and sterilisation laws of Gilded Age USA, to the full genocidal horrors of Nazi Germany.
VPEE student journalist Defne Kutay meets a group of staff and students who are exploring UCL's difficult history and legacy of eugenics and the role played by women in the Galton Laboratory.
A series of essays investigating specific aspects of eugenics research and advocacy at UCL. This includes papers produced as part of student research projects in UCL's Department of Science and Technology Studies.
In this series of essays, five historians and museum curators, including UCL's Nazlin Bhimani and Hannah Cornish, share their research about the history of education and medicine, and help us to think about what the legacies of eugenic thinking mean for our lives today.
Nazlin Bhimani and Professor Marius Turda reflect on the '“We Are Not Alone”: Legacies of Eugenics' exhibition previously on display at the IOE Library and the Weiner Holocaust Library.
This series of videos asks 'Why do we celebrate Francis Galton when he hated people like us?’, looking at the Galton Collection and Flinders Petrie's racial theories, and how we address the challenges of the research constructing unjust racial hierarchies and its legacy.
A timeline from UCL’s induction for new students: In the name of science, scientists have been found to put forward racist, sexist and intolerant theories disguised as facts produced by research. This timeline demonstrates why research ethics are integral in the production of knowledge.
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