Samuel Morton collected and studied hundreds of human skulls in the early 19th century. By objectively measuring differences in brain size between people from various societies, Morton believed he had used science to prove that white people were intellectually superior to other races.
Modern science has long since shown that brain size isn’t necessarily related to intelligence. Many researchers suspect brain size is instead tied to things like climate and body size, while intelligence may be more related to the efficiency of the connections between neurons or the number of total neurons in the brain.
But at the time, Morton and others used his conclusions as a “scientific” justification for slavery, and he is considered a founding father of scientific racism. In recent decades, Morton’s work has been upheld as a model case for how unconscious bias can creep in to even a careful researcher’s work. Dozens of scientists have published on the multitude of ways Morton, unconsciously, demonstrably biased his own results in favor of his prejudices.
Now, a scientist has rediscovered Morton’s 178-year-old research notes. And they may force scientists to reexamine how they remember Morton’s work and, more importantly, the role of bias in the scientific endeavor.
