Samuel Morton
Samuel Morton was a nineteenth-century American physician and naturalist who measured human skulls to argue for a hierarchy of races, with whites at the top.
His work, later discredited, helped establish scientific racism—the use of pseudoscientific methods to justify racial inequality.
Morton's skull collection and conclusions influenced pro-slavery arguments and eugenics movements.
- craniometrySkull dimension analysis
- skullsHead bones
- phrenologySkull-bump personality assessment
- raceCompetition of speed
- anthropologyStudy of human cultures
Philadelphia · physician · collection · measurement · calipers · Caucasian · nineteenth-century · taxonomy · cranial · bones · naturalist · scientific racism · specimens · Egyptian · mummies · classification · intelligence · hierarchy
- Disgraced Scientists
scientific racism vs. racial equality scholarship
Samuel MortonW.E.B. Du Bois
polygenism vs. monogenism
Samuel MortonCharles Darwin
pseudoscience vs. legitimate science of human variation
Samuel MortonHuman Genome Project
Complete genetic blueprint endeavor