Blog

Professor Joe Cain publishes blog posts on many subjects related to his research interests.

GALT364 on display in “We Are Not Alone” exhibition at Wiener Holocaust Library, September 2021. Close-up.
Blog

Charles Darwin’s Pedigree As Described By Karl Pearson

Charles Darwin’s pedigree was one of the premiere objects on display in the recent “We Are Not Alone” exhibition at Wiener Holocaust Library in September 2021, superbly curated by Professor Marius Turda. Darwin’s pedigree was present in the form of a large, framed genealogy – an item loaned from UCL Science Collections. It […]
Columbia Biological Series logo. One of five different logos used for the series.
Blog

Columbia Biological Series, 1894-1974

The Columbia Biological Series (1894-1974) was produced by the Department of Biology (later Zoology) of Columbia University, New York, and spanned a wide range of topics within the biological sciences. This paper provides a bibliography […]
Hand Dynanometer - UCL Galton Collection GALT 038 Copyright 2015 UCL Creative Services
Blog

What Happened to the UCL Galton Collection?

UCL Galton Collection is hard to find. It has been made increasingly invisible. This has happened through actions taken by its caretakers to depreciate its digital access, ignore communities of interest, and pretend it no […]
Lionel Penrose with Margaret Leathes Penrose plus a child in the Harris Family, 1954 or 1955
Blog

Shirley Hodgson in Defence of Lionel Penrose

Professor Lionel Penrose (1898-1972) was the third Galton Professor of Eugenics at University College London (UCL). He took up this post in 1945. He retired in 1965. As Galton Professor, Penrose also held associated roles as […]
“Mibiri Creek, Demerara River | Mr Edmonstone’s Wood Cutting Establishment” from Thomas Staunton St. Clair, A Residence in the West Indies and America (London, 1834), vol. 2, facing p. 187.
Blog

John Edmonstone: References from Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin made reference to many people in his writings. Most were correspondents who sent him pieces of useful information. Others were writers whose work he used, promoted, or criticised. In his 1871 book, Descent […]
Ronald Aylmer Fisher was a eugenicist. This image from 1943 courtesy National Portrait Gallery
Blog

What’s Wrong With Fisher? He Was A Eugenicist

UCL Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment has taken the decision to de-name the R A Fisher Centre for Computational Biology owing to Fisher’s life-long commitment to eugenics research and campaigning. It is now the UCL Centre for […]