Francis Galton

Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) was a British scientist and researcher who worked in many fields: statistics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, eugenics, meteorology, psychometrics, "proto-genetics" and geography. He was also an inventor and tropical explorer. In his multi-faceted career he pioneered the fields of eugenics and psychometrics, and was the first to apply statistical methods to the study of human differences and inheritance of intelligence. He also introduced the use of questionnaires and surveys for collecting data on human communities. He was the first to use the phrase "nature vs. nurture." Throughout his long career he published over 340 papers and books on a wide array of subjects and phenomena.