science

Human Betterment Foundation

Human Betterment Foundation is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Human Betterment Foundation rather than just read about it. In short: The Human Betterment Foundation (HBF) was an American eugenics organization established in Pasadena, California in 1928 by E. S.

Key takeaways

Human Betterment Foundation belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Human Betterment Foundation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Human Betterment Foundation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Human Betterment Foundation (HBF) was an American eugenics organization established in Pasadena, California in 1928 by E. S. Gosney and Rufus B. von KleinSmid, President of the University of Southern California, with the aim "to foster and aid constructive and educational forces for the protection and betterment of the human family in body, mind, character, and citizenship". It primarily served to compile and distribute information about compulsory sterilization legislation in the United States, for the purposes of eugenics. The initial board of trustees were Gosney, Henry Mauris Robinson (a Los Angeles banker); George Dock (a Pasadena physician); Charles Goethe (a Sacramento philanthropist); Justin Miller (dean of the college of law at the University of Southern California); Otis Castle (a Los Angeles attorney); Joe G. Crick (a Pasadena horticulturist); and biologist/eugenicist Paul Popenoe. Later members included Lewis Terman (a Stanford psychologist best known for creating the Stanford-Binet test of IQ); Robert Andrews Millikan (Chair of the Executive Council of Caltech); William B. Munro (a Harvard professor of political science); and University of California, Berkeley professors Herbert M. Evans (anatomy) and Samuel J. Holmes (zoology). After Gosney's death in 1942, Gosney's daughter Lois Castle and the HBF's board liquidated HBF. Its funds were transferred in 1943 to the newly founded Gosney Research Fund at Caltech. The archives of the Human Betterment Foundation are stored at Caltech.

Later public disavowal On account of Millikan's affiliation with the Human Betterment Foundation, in January 2021, the Caltech Board of Trustees authorized removal of Millikan's and Gosney's names (and the names of four other historical figures affiliated with the Foundation), from campus buildings that had been associated with their other achievements. In June 2020, the University of Southern California similarly removed the name of von KleinSmid from campus buildings on account of his association with eugenics; he had served as President there for more than 25 years.

See also American Eugenics Society British Eugenics Society EngenderHealth Eugenics in California Eugenics in the United States Race Betterment Foundation Society for Biodemography and Social Biology

References

"The Human Betterment Foundation," editorial reprinted from Eugenics, Vol. 3, No. 3: 110–113, in Collected papers on eugenic sterilization in California (Pasadena: Human Betterment Foundation, 1930). E. S. Gosney and Paul B. Popenoe, Sterilization for Human Betterment: A Summary of Results of 6,000 Operations in California, 1909–1929 (New York: Macmillan, 1929).

External links Eugenic Science in California: The Papers of E. S. Gosney and the Human Betterment Foundation

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Human Betterment Foundation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Human Betterment Foundation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Human Betterment Foundation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Human Betterment Foundation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Human Betterment Foundation

In research: Human Betterment Foundation appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Human Betterment Foundation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Human Betterment Foundation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1928 establishments in California, 1943 disestablishments in California, Eugenics in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Human Betterment Foundation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Human Betterment Foundation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Human Betterment Foundation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Human Betterment Foundation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Human Betterment Foundation in simple terms?

The Human Betterment Foundation (HBF) was an American eugenics organization established in Pasadena, California in 1928 by E. S.

Why does Human Betterment Foundation matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Human Betterment Foundation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Human Betterment Foundation.