Revisiting the Intersection of Statistics and Eugenics at University College London

This paper revisits the historical entanglement between statistics and eugenics in the early 20th century at University College London (UCL), focusing on Francis Galton, Karl Pearson, and Ronald Fisher. It describes the development of the Galton Laboratory for National Eugenics, presents a timeline of the major statistical contributions made by these figures, and examines an early UCL statistics primer. Integrating this history into statistics and data‑science curricula can increase course relevance and serve as a basis for addressing contemporary ethical challenges in data science and artificial intelligence, promoting ethical practice and prioritization of human dignity in data use.