Editing Karl Pearson (section)

==Early life and education==
Pearson was born in [[Islington]], London, into a [[Quaker]] family. His father was William Pearson [[Queen's Counsel|QC]] of the [[Inner Temple]], and his mother Fanny (née Smith), and he had two siblings, Arthur and Amy. Pearson attended [[University College School]], followed by [[King's College, Cambridge]], in 1876 to study mathematics,<ref>{{acad|id=PR875CK|name=Pearson, Carl (or Karl)}}</ref> graduating in 1879 as Third [[Wrangler (University of Cambridge)|Wrangler]] in the [[Mathematical Tripos]]. He then travelled to Germany to study physics at the [[University of Heidelberg]] under [[Georg Hermann Quincke|G. H. Quincke]] and metaphysics under [[Kuno Fischer]]. He next visited the [[University of Berlin]], where he attended the lectures of the physiologist [[Emil du Bois-Reymond]] on [[Darwinism]] (Emil was a brother of [[Paul du Bois-Reymond]], the mathematician). Pearson also studied Roman Law, taught by [[Bruns]] and [[Theodor Mommsen|Mommsen]], medieval and 16th century German Literature, and Socialism. He became an accomplished historian and [[Germanist]] and spent much of the 1880s in [[Berlin]], [[Heidelberg]], [[Vienna]]{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}}, [[Saig bei Lenzkirch]], and [[Brixlegg]]. He wrote on [[Passion plays]],<ref>Pearson, Karl (1897). [https://archive.org/stream/chancesofdeathot02pearuoft#page/246/mode/2up "The German Passion-Play: A Study in the Evolution of Western Christianity,"] in ''The Chances of Death and Other Studies in Evolution''. London: Edward Arnold, pp. 246–406.</ref> religion, [[Goethe]], [[Werther]], as well as sex-related themes,<ref>Pearson, Karl (1888). [https://archive.org/stream/ethicoffreethoug00pear#page/394/mode/2up "A Sketch of the Sex-Relations in Primitive and Mediæval Germany,"] in ''The Ethic of Freethought''. London: T. Fisher Unwin, pp. 395–426.</ref> and was a founder of the [[Men and Women's Club]].<ref>Walkowitz, Judith R., History Workshop Journal 1986 21(1):37–59, p 37</ref>

[[File:Karl Pearson; Sir Francis Galton.jpg|thumb|right|Pearson with Sir Francis Galton, 1909 or 1910]]
Pearson was offered a [[Germanics]] post at [[King's College, Cambridge]]. Comparing Cambridge students to those he knew from Germany, Karl found German students inathletic and weak. He wrote to his mother, "I used to think athletics and sport was overestimated at Cambridge, but now I think it cannot be too highly valued."<ref>{{cite book |author=Warwick |first=Andrew |title=Masters of theory: Cambridge and the rise of mathematical physics |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-226-87375-6 |location=Chicago |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mastersoftheoryc0000warw/page/176 176–226] |chapter=4: Exercising the student body: Mathematics, manliness and athleticism |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/mastersoftheoryc0000warw |url-status=dead |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref>

On returning to England in 1880, Pearson first went to Cambridge:

{{blockquote|Back in Cambridge, I worked in the engineering shops, but drew up the schedule in Mittel- and Althochdeutsch for the Medieval Languages Tripos.<ref name="Pearson, Karl 1934 p.&nbsp;20">Pearson, Karl (1934). ''Speeches Delivered at a Dinner Held in University College, London, in Honour of Professor Karl Pearson, 23 April 1934''. Cambridge University Press, p.&nbsp;20.</ref>}}

In his first book, ''The New Werther'', Pearson gives a clear indication of why he studied so many diverse subjects:

{{blockquote|I rush from science to philosophy, and from philosophy to our old friends the poets; and then, over-wearied by too much idealism, I fancy I become practical in returning to science. Have you ever attempted to conceive all there is in the world worth knowing—that not one subject in the universe is unworthy of study? The giants of literature, the mysteries of many-dimensional space, the attempts of Boltzmann and Crookes to penetrate Nature's very laboratory, the Kantian theory of the universe, and the latest discoveries in embryology, with their wonderful tales of the development of life—what an immensity beyond our grasp! [...] Mankind seems on the verge of a new and glorious discovery. What Newton did to simplify the planetary motions must now be done to unite in one whole the various isolated theories of mathematical physics.<ref>Pearson, Karl (1880). [https://archive.org/stream/newwertherbylok00peargoog#page/n6/mode/2up ''The New Werther'']. London: C, Kegan Paul & Co., pp. 6, 96.</ref>}}

Pearson then returned to London to study law, emulating his father. Quoting Pearson's own account:
{{blockquote|Coming to London, I read in chambers in Lincoln's Inn, drew up bills of sale, and was called to the Bar, but varied legal studies by lecturing on heat at Barnes, on Martin Luther at Hampstead, and on [[Ferdinand Lassalle|Lassalle]] and Marx on Sundays at revolutionary clubs around Soho.<ref name="Pearson, Karl 1934 p.&nbsp;20"/>}}