Robert Klark Graham (June 9, 1906 – February 13, 1997) was an American
eugenicist
Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
and businessman who made millions by developing shatterproof plastic
eyeglass lenses and who later founded the
Repository for Germinal Choice, a
sperm bank for geniuses, in the hope of implementing a eugenics program.
Graham created his "Nobel sperm bank" in 1980. Initially, his intent was to obtain
sperm only from
Nobel laureates, but the scarcity of donors and the low viability of their sperm (because of age) forced Graham to develop a looser set of criteria.
These criteria were numerous and exacting: for example, sperm recipients were required to be married and to have extremely high
IQ, though the bank later relaxed this policy so it could recruit athletes for donors as well as scholars.
By 1983, Graham's sperm bank was reputed to have 19 genius repeat donors, including
William Bradford Shockley (recipient of the 1956
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
and proponent of eugenics) and two anonymous Nobel Prize in Science winners.
The bank closed in 1999, two years after the death of its founder. A total of 218 children had been born under its auspices.
Graham's overriding goals were the genetic betterment of the human population and the nurture of newly conceived geniuses. This was a form of "positive" eugenics, meant to increase the number of designated "fit" individuals in a population through selective breeding. However, Graham's "genius sperm bank" was highly controversial.
However, due to lack of proper screening techniques, donors and recipients were not always those who met Graham's selective criteria.
"Genius Factory"
Documentary Specials. CBC, Canada, 30 April 2017.
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
* ''The Genius Factory: The Curious History of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank'', by David Plotz, Random House, 2005. .
by David Plotz, Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
Magazine, June 5, 2005 (A biography of Graham)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Robert Klark
American eugenicists
1906 births
1997 deaths