Editing Alexander Graham Bell (section)

==Heredity and genetics==
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<!--Bell's work with Eugenics is still considered contentious. Any submissions to this section should be documented in the "talk page" associated with this article.-->
Bell, along with many members of the scientific community at the time, took an interest in the popular science of heredity which grew out of the publication of [[Charles Darwin]]'s book ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'' in 1859.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bell Rings for Darwin {{!}} National Center for Science Education|url=https://ncse.ngo/bell-rings-darwin|access-date=2021-03-02|website=ncse.ngo|language=en}}</ref> On his estate in Nova Scotia, Bell conducted meticulously recorded breeding experiments with rams and ewes. Over the course of more than 30 years, Bell sought to produce a breed of sheep with multiple nipples that would bear twins.<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 2, 1997|title=Telephone inventor researched sheep teats|url=https://www.producer.com/news/telephone-inventor-researched-sheep-teats/|website=The Western Producer}}</ref> He specifically wanted to see if selective breeding could produce sheep with four functional nipples with enough milk for twin lambs.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Castle|first=W. E.|date=1924-02-01|title=THE GENETICS OF MULTI-NIPPLED SHEEPAn Analysis of the Sheep-Breeding Experiments of Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell at Beinn Bhreagh, N. S.|url=https://academic.oup.com/jhered/article/15/2/75/789352|journal=Journal of Heredity|language=en|volume=15|issue=2|pages=75–85|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a102421|issn=0022-1503}}</ref> This interest in animal breeding caught the attention of scientists focused on the study of heredity and genetics in humans.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Greenwald|first=Brian H.|date=2009|title=The Real "Toll" of A. G. Bell: Lessons about Eugenics|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26190555|journal=Sign Language Studies|volume=9|issue=3|pages=258–265|jstor=26190555|issn=0302-1475}}</ref>

In November 1883, Bell presented a paper at a meeting of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] titled ''Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Bell|first=Alexander Graham|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQ02AQAAMAAJ&pg=PP2|title=Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race|date=1884|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|language=en}}</ref> The paper is a compilation of data on the hereditary aspects of deafness. Bell's research indicated that a hereditary tendency toward deafness, as indicated by the possession of deaf relatives, was an important element in determining the production of deaf offspring. He noted that the proportion of deaf children born to deaf parents was many times greater than the proportion of deaf children born to the general population.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Memoir Upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race.|url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED033502|via=Institute for Education Sciences|year = 1969|publisher = Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf | last1=Bell | first1=Alexander Graham }}</ref> In the paper, Bell delved into social commentary and discussed hypothetical public policies to bring an end to deafness. He also criticized educational practices that segregated deaf children rather than integrated them fulling into mainstream classrooms. The paper did not propose sterilization of deaf people or prohibition on intermarriage,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Greenwald|first1=Brian H.|last2=Van Cleve|first2=John Vickrey|title="A Deaf Variety of the Human Race": Historical Memory, Alexander Graham Bell, and Eugenics|date=2015|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43903056|journal=The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era|volume=14|issue=1|pages=28–48|doi=10.1017/S1537781414000528|jstor=43903056|s2cid=163891681|issn=1537-7814}}</ref> noting that "We cannot dictate to men and women whom they should marry and natural selection no longer influences mankind to any great extent."<ref name=":1" />

A review of Bell's ''Memoir upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race'' appearing in an 1885 issue of the ''American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb'' states that "Dr. Bell does not advocate legislative interference with the marriages of the deaf for several reasons one of which is that the results of such marriages have not yet been sufficiently investigated." The article goes on to say that "the editorial remarks based thereon did injustice to the author."<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=F.|first=E. A.|date=1885|title=Review of Memoir upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44468521|journal=American Annals of the Deaf and Dumb|volume=30|issue=2|pages=155–162|jstor=44468521|issn=0093-1284}}</ref> The paper's author concludes by saying "A wiser way to prevent the extension of hereditary deafness, it seems to us, would be to continue the investigations which Dr. Bell has so admirable begun until the laws of the transmission of the tendency to deafness are fully understood, and then by explaining those laws to the pupils of our schools to lead them to choose their partners in marriage in such a way that deaf-mute offspring will not be the result."<ref name=":2" />

Historians have noted that Bell explicitly opposed laws regulating marriage, and never mentioned sterilization in any of his writings. Even after Bell agreed to engage with scientists conducting eugenic research, he consistently refused to support public policy that limited the rights or privileges of the deaf.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Greenwald|first1=Brian H.|last2=Cleve|first2=John Vickrey Van|title="A Deaf Variety of the Human Race": Historical Memory, Alexander Graham Bell, and Eugenics|date=January 2015|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-gilded-age-and-progressive-era/article/abs/deaf-variety-of-the-human-race-historical-memory-alexander-graham-bell-and-eugenics/8F7B5F2EBB7B4CF199686B7B8C9B5C5B|journal=The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era|language=en|volume=14|issue=1|pages=28–48|doi=10.1017/S1537781414000528|s2cid=163891681|issn=1537-7814}}</ref>

Bell's interest and research on heredity attracted the interest of [[Charles Davenport]], a Harvard professor and head of the [[Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory]]. In 1906, Davenport, who was also the founder of the [[American Genetic Association|American Breeder's Association]], approached Bell about joining a new committee on eugenics chaired by [[David Starr Jordan]]. In 1910, Davenport opened the [[Eugenics Record Office|Eugenics Records office]] at Cold Spring Harbor. To give the organization scientific credibility, Davenport set up a Board of Scientific Directors naming Bell as chairman.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Allen|first=Garland E.|date=1986|title=The Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor, 1910-1940: An Essay in Institutional History|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/301835|journal=Osiris|volume=2|pages=225–264|doi=10.1086/368657|jstor=301835|pmid=11621591|s2cid=411710|issn=0369-7827}}</ref> Other members of the board included [[Luther Burbank]], [[Roswell Hill Johnson|Roswell H. Johnson]], [[Vernon Lyman Kellogg|Vernon L. Kellogg]], and [[William E. Castle]].<ref name=":3" />

In 1921, a [[Second International Congress of Eugenics]] was held in New York at the Museum of Natural History and chaired by Davenport. Although Bell did not present any research or speak as part of the proceedings, he was named as honorary president as a means to attract other scientists to attend the event.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=International Congress of Eugenics (2nd : 1921 : New York)|url=https://archive.org/details/scientificpapers02inte|title=Scientific papers of the second International Congress of Eugenics :held at American Museum of Natural History, New York, September 22-28, 1921 / (Vol. 2)|date=1923|publisher=Baltimore : Williams & Williams|others=The Library of Congress}}</ref> A summary of the event notes that Bell was a "pioneering investigator in the field of human heredity".<ref name=":4" />