University clears campus of ‘master race’ scientists

A TOP university has renamed lecture theatres and a building called after controversial eugenics scientists.

University College London said it had decided to remove the connections to Francis Galton and Karl Pearson.

Eugenics – a term coined by Galton – is associated with ideas of white superiority and influenced the Nazis’ attempts to create a master race.

The Victorian academic left UCL a bequest for the country’s first chair of eugenics, of which Pearson was the first holder. The Galton Lecture Theatre has been renamed Lecture Theatre 115, the Pearson Lecture Theatre is now Lecture Theatre G22 and the Pearson Building is the North-West Wing.

UCL president Professor Michael Arthur said: ‘This problematic history has caused significant concern. Although UCL is a very different place than it was in the 19th century, any suggestion we celebrate these figures behind them creates an unwelcoming environment.’