Blog | Page 6 of 8 | Professor Joe Cain

Number 88 Gower Street - location for the Eugenics Record Office 1904-1906 | At cover of Gower Street and Torrington Place, Bloomsbury, London, England, United Kingdom

Francis Galton’s Eugenics Record Office on Gower Street (ERO-Galton)

Francis Galton created a Eugenics Record Office (ERO-Galton) at 88 Gower Street, London, England, in 1904, while developing a scheme to create for himself some research capacity in this area. ERO-Galton operated until 1907, when […]

view of location for number 110 Gower Street in relation to University College quad, 1946 aerial photograph courtesy Historic England. Image EAW000537

What Happened to Darwin’s House on Gower Street?

Charles Darwin lived in number 12 Upper Gower Street between 1839 and 1842, before moving to Down House at the end of summer 1842. (Charles moved into the house on 31 December 1838, spent his […]

Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797) commemorative plaque on UCL Charles Bell Building | ProfJoeCain

Reviewing Commemorations: A Strategy for Executive Action

In a recent blog post on Lessons About Renaming University Buildings, I developed some key concepts to focus discussions about renaming commemorative objects at universities. The aim was to assist in building a strategy for […]

Commemoration for service in the Great War, 1914-1919, University College London (UCL) | ProfJoeCain

Lessons About Renaming University Buildings

Summary: The argument builds on several steps. First, naming is a commemorative act. These acts support heritage stories. Conflicts over renaming really are conflicts between heritage stories. These conflicts cannot be resolved by appealing to […]

Charles Darwin Blue Plaque on Gower Street London WC1 | ProfJoeCain

Darwinian Heritage on Gower Street at UCL

English Heritage commemorates Charles Darwin with a blue plaque located on Gower Street in Bloomsbury, central London. The “Darwin plaque” is fixed to the Darwin Building, one of the substantial science buildings of University College […]

Galton and Schuster (1906) Noteworthy Families title page element

Eugenics at University of Puget Sound (UPS)

Colleagues at the University of Puget Sound (UPS) have developed a course to explore the history and legacy of eugenics in their community. This draws on an interdisciplinary team of tutors and some highly energetic students. […]

UCL Galton Lecture Theatre - plaque on door - ProfJoeCain

Time Has Run Out for Francis Galton at UCL

Francis Galton was a bad piece of work. His racist, nativist, supremacist views are antithetical to UCL’s vision and values. He is no role model for me. He should be no role model for you. […]

Speeches Delivered at a Dinner in Honour of Karl Pearson, 1934

Karl Pearson retired in 1933, aged 76. To honour his career, colleagues and former students gathered for a dinner in April 1934. On this occasion, Professor LNG Filon, Vice-Chancellor of University of London, gave a […]

Karl Pearson praised Hitler and Nazi Race Hygiene

Did Professor Karl Pearson praise Hitler and Nazi ‘race hygiene’ programmes? Yes, he did. He did this in 1934, at a dinner to mark his retirement the previous year from University College London (UCL). Pearson […]

Edward Turner, First Professor of Chemistry at UCL - ProfJoeCain

Edward Turner was a Creole. So what?

A historian colleague of mine asked if I knew anything about the genealogy of UCL’s first Professor of Chemistry, Edward Turner (1796-1837). My colleague said he had heard a report that Turner was mixed race, […]