astronomy

London Conference on Intelligence

London Conference on Intelligence is a astronomy 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 London Conference on Intelligence rather than just read about it. In short: The London Conference on Intelligence (LCI) is an invitation-only conference for research on human intelligence, including race and intelligence and eugenics. In 2018, Times Higher Education called it "an annual conference on eugenics and intelligence" and several news outlets have described the conference as having ties to white supremacy, neo-Nazism, and scientific racism.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The London Conference on Intelligence (LCI) is an invitation-only conference for research on human intelligence, including race and intelligence and eugenics. In 2018, Times Higher Education called it "an annual conference on eugenics and intelligence" and several news outlets have described the conference as having ties to white supremacy, neo-Nazism, and scientific racism. Founded in 2014, it was secretly held in the Pearson Building at University College London (UCL) in London, England, on four occasions. It was hosted by James Thompson, an honorary UCL senior lecturer in psychology. The existence of the conference, as well as the names of some of the attendees, was revealed by the London Student on 10 January 2018. In a statement released in response to news of the conference, UCL said that it had been unaware that the conference had occurred on its campus, and that the speakers there "were not approved or endorsed by UCL". Their statement also said that "We are an institution that is committed to free speech but also to combatting racism and sexism in all forms." UCL also announced that it would investigate whether the organizers breached the university's room booking procedures as well as the circumstances that led to awarding of an honorary senior lectureship to Thompson. Several conference attendees authored a letter defending the conference and disputing that it was mainly about eugenics. LCI was moved from London to Skanderborg, Denmark, in May 2018. Helmuth Nyborg has said "we don't trust the media" to explain why conference organizers avoid public attention.

UCL investigation The LCI was investigated in January 2018 following the 2017 attendance of Toby Young (who was then involved in controversy over his past tweets and tenure on the board of the government-funded Office for Students) at these conferences, as well as their alleged eugenicist content, neo-Nazi links and clandestine nature. The Guardian reported that "Speakers included white supremacists and a researcher who has previously advocated child rape." Young later resigned over the controversy. Thompson hosted the event without informing senior university officials. In response to an investigation by London Student revealing that the conference had taken place on UCL's campus, UCL announced it would be investigating how a conference on eugenics was able to occur on their campus without the university's knowledge. A UCL spokesperson told The Guardian that "UCL is investigating a potential breach of its room bookings process for events"; UCL also revoked Thompson's approval to organize future conferences. The UCL issued a press release saying that it would investigate the circumstances that led to awarding of an honorary senior lectureship to Thompson, and reaffirmed that it is committed to combating racism. UCL has now cut all ties with Thompson and taken steps to avoid the possibility of such events taking place without the university's knowledge. In response to the controversy, the journal Intelligence published a correspondence defending the conference authored by 15 of its attendees. The correspondence disputed that the LCI was a eugenics conference, saying that, among the 75 presentations given there over four years, only two had been on the topic of eugenics. One of the authors of the correspondence, psychologist Aurelio José Figueredo, was subsequently reported to be the only academic receiving funding from the Pioneer Fund, which is associated with scientific racism and eugenics. Figueredo told the Associated Press that the conference was not about eugenics, and that its overall theme could not be represented "by a few presentations". This led to the university setting up an inquiry looking into its historical links with eugenics. Its report was published in February 2020, but nine of the 16 members of the team refused to sign it because it did not look into the conference meetings. Three of its buildings, the Galton Lecture Theatre, Pearson Lecture Theatre and the Pearson Building were renamed.

Attendees Notable attendees of at least one of the conferences include:

Noah Carl, then an academic at the University of Oxford. Aurelio José Figueredo Paul Irwing Emil Kirkegaard, founder of the website OpenPsych, attended and spoke at the 2017 conference. Richard Lynn, a British psychologist, who attended the 2017 conference. Gerhard Meisenberg, Director of the Pioneer Fund Edward M. Miller Jan te Nijenhuis Helmuth Nyborg, a Danish psychologist, who attended in 2015 and 2016. Heiner Rindermann Andrew Sabisky, subsequently advisor at No.10. Toby Young, a British journalist, who also attended the 2017 conference.

References

External links UCL statement on London Conference on Intelligence

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with London Conference on Intelligence

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what London Conference on Intelligence claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 London Conference on Intelligence 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 London Conference on Intelligence 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 London Conference on Intelligence

In research: London Conference on Intelligence appears in astronomy 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 London Conference on Intelligence 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: London Conference on Intelligence is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2014 establishments in England, Conferences in London, Eugenics in the United Kingdom, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for London Conference on Intelligence 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.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study London Conference on Intelligence in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what London Conference on Intelligence 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 London Conference on Intelligence out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is London Conference on Intelligence in simple terms?

Why does London Conference on Intelligence matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 London Conference on Intelligence?

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 London Conference on Intelligence.