"Ever Heard of Francis Galton?" both Anita and Martin appeared blank to the question.
"Charles Darwin?" The professor asked.
"The Evolution Guy?" Anita and Martin replied in unison. "Yeah, the evolution guy" the professor grinned. "Francis Galton was Charles Darwin's cousin brother. He used his brother's theory of evolution and applied it to humans to develop the concept of eugenics.
The modern concept of refining the quality of humans born into the world was originally developed by Francis Galton. Based on biographical studies of humans, Galton concluded that desirable traits were hereditary.
Eugenics then became an academic speciality at many colleges and universities. It received funding from several sources. Primarily, its main proponents were national governments who sought to improve the genetic stock of their citizenry. Three International Eugenics Conferences presented a global venue for Eugenics advocates. There were meetings in 1912 in London, and in 1921 and 1932 in New York.
"Can you guess which country first implemented eugenics as part of it national policies?" quizzed the professor.
"Germany?" Anita shot out.
"Italy?" said Martin in a low serious tone.
"No. It was the United States".
Anita and Martin looked at each other in surprise and then at the professor.
The professor continued-"Eugenic policies were first implemented in the early 1900s in the United States. Connecticut, in 1896, enacted marriage laws with eugenic criteria, prohibiting anyone who was, say epileptic, imbecile or feeble-minded from marrying. Later, in the 1920s and 30s, the eugenic policy of sterilizing certain mental patients was implemented in several countries like Japan, Brazil, Belgium, Canada and Sweden.
In the 1930s, a man named Ernst Rudin justified the racial policies of Nazi Germany using the principles of Eugenics. Then onwards the scientific reputation of eugenics started to decline.
In Hitler's Germany, people deemed unfit to reproduce often included those who scored in the low ranges of different IQ tests, those with mental or physical disabilities, criminals and deviants, and adherents of targeted minority groups.
The eugenics movement culminated with Nazi Germany slaughtering more than 10 million 'racially inferior' people as part of a state policy of racial purity based on eugenic principles.
In the decades following World War II, with the establishment of human rights principles, the world abandoned eugenics policies".
Martin then asked the professor- "So eugenics, is no longer practiced anymore?"
"Yeah, at least not in the open" the professor replied. Martin and Anita wore a look of surprise once more on their faces.
"Why professor? What happened?" Anita asked.
"The Cold war happened, the Space race happened" said the professor letting out a heaving sigh.
(To Be Continued Tomorrow...)
[The complete Book ‘MAN FROM TOMORROW’ can be downloaded at amzn.to/2MSf1ng]
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