Robert Klark Graham, American eugenicist and businessman (b. 1906)
Robert Klark Graham (June 9, 1906 – February 13, 1997) was an American eugenicist 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 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.
1997Feb, 13
Robert Klark Graham
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Events on 1997
- 19Jan
Hebron
Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city. - 21Jan
Newt Gingrich
The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395-28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined. - 5Feb
The Holocaust
The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families. - 2Jun
Oklahoma City bombing
In Denver, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died. He was executed four years later. - 1Jul
Tony Blair
China resumes sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. The handover ceremony is attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prince Charles of Wales, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.