R. A. Fischer and Karl Pearson. Two of the most famous statisticians ever. Fathers of Modern Statistics. These are the gods of statistics. Geniuses. Men from a different age. Every Statistics student has been introduced to these two gentlemen with these exact words. They have devised several fundamental statistical tools, methods and concepts that hold superlative relevance even today. The concepts of design of experiment, f-test, chi-squared test, correlation coefficient and countless others have withstood the test of time. And no doubt these men have carved out a niche for themselves. After all, most of these statistical methods are named after them!
But Statistics isn’t the only field these two have made ripples. The other field is that of Eugenics. Eugenics, in layman’s terms is the belief that only superior races should be allowed to breed. If you sense an undertone of racism, you’re right. It basically was a giant movement of sorts that made contentious efforts to eradicate the Black community in the garb of allowing people belonging to only ‘superior races’ to reproduce. And these two men didn’t just play a tiny role. They were public advocates and oftentimes used Statistics as a way to justify the ideals of Eugenics propaganda. They twisted already known statistics to suite their racist hypotheses. They even developed brand new Statistical methods just to substantiate their claims. The ulterior motive being to put a cap on the fertility rate of ‘non-white’ people.
This discovery came as a shock to me. Hundreds of times have we heard the names, ‘Fischer’ and ‘Pearson’ in countless classes, but never once was this aspect of their lives brought to light in a classroom setting. Had I not happened to read an article on this, I would have never known as I doubt so many Statisticians too don’t! Now, I understand that discussion of history might be out of scope for our regular curriculum classes, but how has there been no mention of it ever? I am no one to judge whether this ‘discovery’ should take away from the ground-breaking scientific work these men have done. Nonetheless, my mind will definitely wander the next time I am taught a new statistical method developed by either of them. I will probably think to myself, “Could eugenics have played a role in the development of this method too?”
Think of it this way, do you still read Harry Potter books or watch the movies with the same enthusiasm now when J. K. Rowling has publicly made homophobic statements and refused to apologize for them?