The Pioneer Fund is a foundation that claims to have played a significant role in research on heredity and human personality differences since its 1937 founding, particularly in intelligence. Although it is often criticized, some critics state that the fund has sponsored useful research. ^[1] A Foundation is a type of philanthropic organization set up by either individuals or institutions as a legal entity (either as a corporation or trust) with the purpose of distributing grants to support causes in line with the goals of the foundation. ... Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title of nobility is passed from individual to individual according to relevant customs and/or laws). ... It has been suggested that Personality psychology be merged into this article or section. ... Intelligence is the mental capacity to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. ...

The Pioneer Fund's most notable contribution is what is also its single largest funding, the funding of the landmark Minnesota Twin Family Study and Texas Adoption Project, which studied the similarities and differences of identical twins adopted by different families. Other notable contributions include funding of three leading psychologists in intelligence, Hans Eysenck, the most-cited living psychologist at the time of his death (1997), the similarly much-cited and controversial Arthur Jensen, much-cited Lloyd Humphreys, and funding of leading ecologist Garrett Hardin, author of the essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons". (Note that the fund has only funded some of their research, not necessarily their most important contributions, although it could also in some cases be their most important contributions) The Minnesota Twin Family Study is a longitudinal study of twins conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota. ... The Minnesota Texas Adoption Research Project (MTARP) is a longitudinal study used to study effects of heredity versus environment in child development. ... Fraternal twin boys in the tub The term twin most notably refers to two individuals (or one of two individuals) who have shared the same uterus (womb) and usually, but not necessarily, born on the same day. ... Hans Eysenck Hans Jürgen Eysenck (March 4, 1916 - September 4, 1997) was an eminent psychologist, most remembered for his work on intelligence and personality, though he worked in a wide range of areas. ... Arthur Jensen Arthur Jensen is a Professor Emeritus of educational psychology at University of California, Berkeley. ... Lloyd G. Humphreys (12 December 1913—7 September 2003) was a differential psychologist and methodologist who focused on assessing individual differences in human behavior. ... Garrett Hardin Garrett James Hardin (April 21, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was a controversial ecologist from Dallas, Texas who was most known for his 1968 paper, The Tragedy of the commons. ... The tragedy of the commons is a metaphor used to illustrate the conflict between individual interests and the common good. ...

The Pioneer Fund has been one of the main sources of funding for the partly-genetic hypothesis of IQ variation among races. This has generated a large amount of controversy ever since the publication of The Bell Curve (1994) - a book exploring the role of intelligence in American life, including variation among races - which drew from Pioneer-funded research. The fund has also generated controversy for its focus on the controversial areas heredity, intelligence, human differences, and eugenics. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights advocacy and anti-racism organization, has characterized the Pioneer Fund as a "hate group," using the definition "attack[ing] or malign[ing] an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics".[2] The SPLC cites the Pioneer Fund's funding of some organizations and individuals the SPLC considers racist, and the funding of race and intelligence research.[3] Normal distribution showing results of studies comparing races and ethnic groups with IQ among U.S. test subjects show differences in average test scores, as seen in this graph based on Reynolds et al. ... The Bell Curve is a controversial, best-selling 1994 book by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray exploring the role of intelligence in American life. ... Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ... The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American non-profit legal, educational, and intelligence-gathering group for the purposes of advocacy for civil rights and against racism. ... A hate group is an organized group or movement that advocates hate, hostility or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, religion, or other sector of society. ... An African-American man drinks out of the colored only water cooler at a racially segregated street car terminal in the United States in 1939. ...

The fund publishes the journal Mankind Quarterly, and is currently headed by psychology professor J. Philippe Rushton. The Mankind Quarterly is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to physical anthropology and cultural anthropology and associated with the Pioneer Fund. ... John Philippe Rushton John Philippe (Phil) Rushton Ph. ...

Early history

Wickliffe Draper, seen here in military uniform.

The Pioneer Fund was incorporated in 1937 by two American scientists: Harry Laughlin, who received an honorary doctorate from Heidelberg University in 1936 in recognition of his contribution to Nazi eugenics, and Frederick Osborn, who Barry Mehler claims wrote in 1937 that the Nazi sterilization law was "the most exciting experiment that had ever been tried".[4] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (769x1193, 100 KB) This is a copyrighted promotional photo with a known source. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (769x1193, 100 KB) This is a copyrighted promotional photo with a known source. ... Harry Hamilton Laughlin (March 11, 1880- January 26, 1943) was a leading eugenicist in the United States in the first half of the 20th century. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ... Major General Frederick H. Osborn (1903—5 January 1980) was an American philanthropist and military leader whom the American Philosophical Society dubbed the respectable face of eugenic research in the post-war period. ...

The fund's main benefactor and de facto final authority was Wickliffe Draper (1891-1972), Mayflower descendant and heir to a large fortune. [5] According to one geneticist he "wished to prove simply that Negroes were inferior" He funded advocates of repatriation of blacks to Africa and anti-Semitic and neo-nazi advocates such as Willis Carto. Draper also made large financial contributions to efforts to oppose the American Civil Rights Movement and the racial desegregation mandated by Brown v. Board of Education, such as $215,000 to the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission in 1963.[6]. Wickliffe Draper, seen here in military uniform, dedicated his life to intellectual pursuits and philanthropy. ... 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1972 calendar). ... Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall (1882) The Mayflower was the ship which transported the Pilgrims from Plymouth, England to North Virginia (which later became part of the United States of America) in 1620, leaving Plymouth on September 6 and dropping anchor near Cape Cod on November 11 (both... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The terms Neo-Nazism and Neo-Fascism refer to any social or political movement to revive Nazism or Fascism, respectively, and postdates the Second World War. ... Willis Allison Carto (born July 17, 1926 in Indiana) is a longtime figure on the far right wing of American politics. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Desegregation is the process of ending racial segregation, most commonly used in reference to the United States. ... Holding Racial segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because separate facilities are inherently unequal. ... The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was a Mississippi state agency that existed from 1956 to 1977. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ...

"Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution": Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields.

The 1937 incorporation documents of the Pioneer Fund lists two purposes. The first, modeled on the Nazi breeding program, was aimed at encouraging the propagation of those "descended predominantly from white persons who settled in the original thirteen states prior to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States and/or from related stocks, or to classes of children, the majority of whom are deemed to be so descended". Its second purpose was to support academic research and the "dissemination of information, into the 'problem of heredity and eugenics'" and "the problems of race betterment". [7] The Pioneer Fund argues the "race betterment" has always referred to the "human race" referred to earlier in the sentence, and critics argue it referred to racial groups. The document was amended in 1985 and the phrase changed to "human race betterment". Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about the year. ...

The Pioneer Fund supported the distribution of a eugenics film titled Erbkrank ("Hereditary Defective" or "Hereditary Illness") which was published by the pre-war 1930s Nazi Party. William Draper obtained the film from the predecessor to the Nazi Office of Racial Politics prior to the founding of the Pioneer Fund. [8] This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... The Nazi swastika symbol The National Socialist German Workers Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ...

All of the founders capable of doing so participated in the war against the Nazis.[9]

Current funding

Most of the Pioneer Fund's grants go to scientific research, including to researchers at 38 universities, and a smaller amount has gone to political or legal organizations, mostly to immigration reform/reduction organizations. This section's figures are from 1971-1996 and are adjusted to 1997 USD. (Complete listing, 1971-1996)

Scientific research

The Pioneer Fund funds research on the basis and correlates of human ability and diversity. Notable topics in this research are the heredity and neuroscience of intelligence.

Many of the researchers supporting the partially-hereditary hypothesis of the racial IQ disparity found in intelligence research have received grants of varying sizes from the Pioneer Fund.[10]. Large grantees, in order of amount received, are Thomas J. Bouchard at the University of Minnesota, Arthur Jensen at the Institute for the Study of Educational Differences, J. Phillipe Rushton at the U of Western Ontario, Roger Pearson at the Institute for the Study of Man, Richard Lynn at Ulster Institute for Social Research, and Linda Gottfredson at the U of Delaware. Lynn is also on the editorial board of Mankind Quarterly. Other notable recipients of funding include: Hans Eysenck, the most-cited living psychologist at the time of his death (1997), Lloyd Humphreys, Joseph M. Horn, Robert Gordon, Garrett Hardin, author of the phrase the "tragedy of the commons", R. Travis Osborne, Audrey M. Shuey, and Philip A. Vernon. (Note that the fund has only funded some of their research, not necessarily their most important contributions) Image File history File links Picture of a human brain rendered with an fMRI scanner. ... Image File history File links Picture of a human brain rendered with an fMRI scanner. ... IQ redirects here; for other uses of that term, see IQ (disambiguation). ... // Brain size The correlation between brain size and IQ seems to hold for comparisons between and within families (Gignac et al. ... Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr. ... Arthur Jensen Arthur Jensen is a Professor Emeritus of educational psychology at University of California, Berkeley. ... J. Philippe Rushton (born 1943 in Bournemouth, England), is a psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada best known for his controversial work on racial differences. ... Roger Pearson (born 1927) is a British eugenics advocate and editor of several scholarly journals published by the Institute for the Study of Man. ... Richard Lynn Richard Lynn (born 1930) is a British emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Ulster, known for his work on intelligence and differential psychology. ... Linda Susanne Gottfredson (born 24 June 1947) is an American sociologist who publishes on intelligence, race, and human resources. ... Hans Eysenck Hans Jürgen Eysenck (March 4, 1916 - September 4, 1997) was an eminent psychologist, most remembered for his work on intelligence and personality, though he worked in a wide range of areas. ... Lloyd G. Humphreys (12 December 1913—7 September 2003) was a differential psychologist and methodologist who focused on assessing individual differences in human behavior. ... Joseph M. Horn is an American psychology professor known for his work on adoption studies. ... Robert Gordon (1668-1731) was born in Aberdeen. ... Garrett Hardin Garrett James Hardin (April 21, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was a controversial ecologist from Dallas, Texas who was most known for his 1968 paper, The Tragedy of the commons. ... The tragedy of the commons is a phrase used to refer to a class of phenomena that involve a conflict for resources between individual interests and the common good. ... R. Travis Osborne (born 1913) is a professor emeritus of psychology at University of Georgia. ... Audrey M. Shuey (1910-1977) was a researcher on race and intelligence and a Pioneer Fund grantee. ... Philip Anthony Vernon is a psychology professor who studies race and intelligence. ...

As compiled in 1997, the recipient of the largest amount of funding ($2.3 million USD) was Thomas J. Bouchard's landmark twin study, the Minnesota Study of Identical Twins Reared Apart (MISTRA), better known as the Minnesota Twins Project. The Minnesota Twins Project compared identical and fraternal twins who had been brought up in different families. Another notable twin study that was partially funded by the fund is the Texas Adoption Project, which compared adopted children to their birth and adopted families. The studies, along with similar studies, have demonstrated that as much as half of intelligence and personality are inherited (See Intelligence quotient#Genetics vs environment). Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr. ... A twin study is a kind of genetic study done to determine heritability. ... The Minnesota Texas Adoption Research Project (MTARP) is a longitudinal study used to study effects of heredity versus environment in child development. ... IQ tests are designed to give approximately normally distributed results, which causes a bell curve graph of IQ score frequency. ...

Professor J. Phillipe Rushton, grantee and current director

Rushton is a central advocate of genetic differences between races in race and intelligence research and the current head of the fund since 2002. In 1999, Rushton used some of his grant money from the Pioneer fund to send out tens of thousands of copies of his controversial book Race, Evolution, and Behavior to social scientists in anthropology, psychology, and sociology, causing a great controversy [11]. The book advocates Rushton's controversial differential K theory. Image File history File links This is a copyrighted promotional photo with a known source. ... J. Philippe Rushton (born 1943 in Bournemouth, England), is a psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada best known for his controversial work on racial differences. ... Normal distribution showing results of studies comparing races and ethnic groups with IQ among U.S. test subjects show differences in average test scores, as seen in this graph based on Reynolds et al. ... The consensus among intelligence researchers is that IQ differences between individuals of the same race reflect (1) real, (2) functionally/socially significant, and (3) substantially genetic differences in the general intelligence factor. ...

Eugenicist and anthropologist Roger Pearson, founder of the Journal of Indo-European Studies[12], received over a million dollars in grants in the eighties and the nineties.[13][14] Using the pseudonym of Stephan Langton, Pearson was the editor of The New Patriot, a short-lived magazine published in 1966-67 to conduct "a responsible but penetrating inquiry into every aspect of the Jewish Question," which included articles such as "Zionists and the Plot Against South Africa," "Early Jews and the Rise of Jewish Money Power," and "Swindlers of the Crematoria." [15]. The Northern League, an organization founded in England in 1958 Pearson supported Nazi ideologies and included former members of the Nazi Party [16]. Roger Pearson (born 1927) is a British eugenics advocate and editor of several scholarly journals published by the Institute for the Study of Man. ... The Northern League is a neo-Nazi organization most active in Britain in the latter half of the 20th century. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

William Shockley, winner of the Nobel prize in physics in 1956, received a series of grants In the 1970s. Shockley became famous in his later career for supporting the controversial genetic hypothesis of race and intelligence research and for being a proponent of eugenics. William Bradford Shockley (February 13, 1910 – August 12, 1989) American physicist, eugenicist and co-inventor of the transistor with John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. ... Sir Edward Appletons medal Photographs of Nobel Prize Medals. ... Physics (from the Greek, φυσικός (physikos), natural, and φύσις (physis), nature) is the science of the natural world, which deals with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results of these forces. ... Normal distribution showing results of studies comparing races and ethnic groups with IQ among U.S. test subjects show differences in average test scores, as seen in this graph based on Reynolds et al. ... Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ...

Political and legal funding

The Fund has given significant support to immigration reductionist organizations, primarily to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), but also to the American Immigration Control Foundation (AICF), and ProjectUSA. During the campaign over California's Proposition 187 critics noted that the Pioneer Fund was channeling money in favor of the initiative through contributions to the FAIR. [17] Immigration reduction refers to movements active within the United States that advocate a reduction in the amount of immigration allowed into the United States or other countries. ... The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is an immigration reduction organization in the United States, founded in 1979 by John Tanton. ... ProjectUSA was founded in 1999 by Craig Nelson, a former Manhattan restaurateur. ... California Proposition 187 was a proposition introduced in California in 1994 to deny illegal immigrants social services, health care, and public education. ...

A controversial minor grantee is the paleoconservative and white nationalist journalist Jared Taylor, the editor of American Renaissance and a member the advisory board of the white nationalist publication the Occidental Quarterly. [18] Many of the key academic white nationalists in both Right Now! and American Renaissance have been funded by the Pioneer and the Pioneer was directly involved in funding the parent organization of American Renaissance, the New Century Foundation. [19] Paleoconservatism (sometimes shortened to paleo or paleocon when the context is clear) refers to a branch of American conservative thought that is often called Old Right. ... White nationalism is the attempt to create racial identity groups which advance the social and economic interests of White or Caucasian people. ... Samuel Jared Taylor (b. ... American Renaissance (AR) is a monthly magazine published by the New Century Foundation, both of which have strong associations with fascist/right-wing ideologies. ... The Occidental Quarterly is a white nationalist journal that seeks to direct American conservatism in the direction of an Anglo-Saxon cultural and racialist ideology. ... Right Now! is a bimonthly British political magazine. ...

Founders and directors

John Marshall Harlan II, one of the 5 Pioneer Fund founders, was a U.S. Supreme Court justice who, during his confirmation process, supported an end to school segregation following the famous Brown v. Board of Education case.

The main benefactor of the Pioneer Fund was Wickliffe Draper. Among the other notable founders were Frederick Henry Osborn and Harry H. Laughlin. Osborn was the secretary of the American Eugenics Society, which was part of an accepted and active field at the time, the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Selective Service during World War II and later the Deputy U.S. Representative to the UN Atomic Energy Commission. Laughlin was the director of the Eugenics Record Office and served as the president of the Pioneer Fund from its inception until 1941. Image File history File links U.S. Supreme Court photograph of John Marshall Harlan II File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links U.S. Supreme Court photograph of John Marshall Harlan II File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... John Marshall Harlan II (May 20, 1899 – December 29, 1971) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. ... Holding Racial segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because separate facilities are inherently unequal. ... Major General Frederick Henry Osborn (21 March 1889—5 January 1981) was an American philanthropist, military leader, and eugenicist. ... Harry H. Laughlin Harry Hamilton Laughlin (March 11, 1880 – January 26, 1943) was a leading American eugenicist in the first half of the 20th century. ... The American Eugenics Society (AES) was a society established in 1922 to promote eugenics. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... This article is about the United Nations, for other uses of UN see UN (disambiguation) Official languages English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic Secretary-General Kofi Annan (since 1997) Established October 24, 1945 Member states 191 Headquarters New York City, NY, USA Official site http://www. ... Almost a year after World War II ended, Congress established the United States Atomic Energy Commission to foster and control the peace time development of atomic science and technology. ... The Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor, New York was a center for eugenics and human heredity research in the first half of the twentieth century. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ...

Another director was John Marshall Harlan II, who was the director of operational analysis for the Eighth Air Force in World War II, and was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Eisenhower. John Marshall Harlan II (May 20, 1899 – December 29, 1971) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. ... The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force (NAF) of the major command (MAJCOM) of Air Combat Command of the United States Air Force and it is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. ... Dwight David Ike Eisenhower (October 14, 1890–March 28, 1969), American soldier and politician, was the 34th President of the United States (1953–1961) and supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, with the rank of General of the Army. ...

Other Fund alumni include John M. Woolsey, Jr., a staff attorney at the Nuremberg Trials, Malcolm Donald, a former editor of the Harvard Law Review and a brigadier general during World War II, Henry E. Garrett, the former president of the American Psychological Association, and Representative Francis E. Walter. A German newspaper announces The Verdict in Nuremberg. ... The Harvard Law Review is a journal of legal scholarship published by a student-run group at Harvard Law School. ... A Brigadier General, or one-star general, is the lowest rank of general officer in the United States and some other countries, ranking just above Colonel and just below Major General. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II... Henry Edward Garrett (27 January 1894—26 June 1973) was an American psychologist and segregationist. ... The American Psychological Association (APA) is a professional organization representing psychology in the US. It has around 150,000 members and an annual budget of around $70m. ...

• Complete list available here.

Controversy

Criticism

There are reported links between various past contributors to its science journal Mankind Quarterly and Nazism. Italian biologist and Mankind Quarterly associate editor Corrado Gini authored an article titled "The Scientific Basis of Fascism" and was once a scientific advisor to Mussolini. The editorial board member Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer was Josef Mengele's mentor before and during the Holocaust and is suspected of being his collaborator. [20][21][22]. The already mentioned Roger Pearson was a former editor. Corrado Gini (May 23, 1884 - March 13, 1965) was an Italian statistician, demographer and sociologist who developed the Gini coefficient, a measure of the income inequality in a society. ... Benito Mussolini created a fascist state through the use of propaganda, total control of the media and disassembly of the working democratic government. ... Otmar von Verschuer (right) measures two twin girls as part of an anthropometric study of heredity. ... Josef Mengele Dr. Josef Mengele Ph. ... Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust was Nazi Germanys systematic genocide (ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II. Early elements include the Kristallnacht pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program established by Hitler that killed some 200,000 people. ...

Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, circa 1920s-1940s, measures two twin girls as part of an anthropometric study of heredity.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a controversial nonprofit organization, lists the Pioneer Fund as a hate group citing the fund's history, its funding of race and intelligence research, and its connections with some individuals the SPLC considers racist.[23]. They also state: "Race science has potentially frightening consequences, as is evident not only from the horrors of Nazi Germany, but also from the troubled racial history of the United States. If white supremacist groups had their way, the United States would return to its dark days. In publication after publication, hate groups are using this "science" to legitimize racial hatred."[24] Image File history File links Photograph of Otmar von Verschuer measuring two twins as part of his research into heredity and eugenics. ... Image File history File links Photograph of Otmar von Verschuer measuring two twins as part of his research into heredity and eugenics. ... Otmar von Verschuer (right) measures two twin girls as part of an anthropometric study of heredity. ... Fraternal twin boys in the tub Twins in animal biology is a case of multiple birth in which the mother gives birth to two offspring from the same pregnancy. ... It has been suggested that Bertillion Record be merged into this article or section. ... Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title of nobility is passed from individual to individual according to relevant customs and/or laws). ... The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American non-profit legal, educational, and intelligence-gathering group for the purposes of advocacy for civil rights and against racism. ... A non-profit organization (often called non-profit org or simply non-profit or not-for-profit) can be seen as an organization that doesnt have a goal to make a profit. ... A hate group is an organized group or movement that advocates hate, hostility or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, religion, or other sector of society. ... 1. ...

In accord with the tax regulations governing nonprofit corporations, Pioneer does not fund individuals; under the law only other nonprofit organizations are appropriate grantees. As a consequence, many of the fund's awards go not to the researchers themselves but to the universities that employ them, a standard procedure for supporting work by academically based scientists. However, in addition to these awards to the universities where its grantees are based, Pioneer has also made a number of grants to other nonprofit organizations, essentially dummy corporations created solely to channel Pioneer's resources directly to a particular academic recipient—a mechanism apparently designed to circumvent the institution where the researcher is employed [25][26].

Although the fund typically gives away more than half a million dollars per year, there is no application form or set of guidelines. Instead an applicant merely submits "a letter containing a brief description of the nature of the research and the amount of the grant requested." There is no requirement for peer review of any kind; Pioneer's board of directors—two attorneys, two engineers, and an investment broker—decides, sometimes within a day, whether a particular research proposal merits funding. Once the grant has been made, there is no requirement for an interim or final report or even for an acknowledgment by a grantee that Pioneer has been the source of support, all atypical practices in comparison to other organizations that support scientific research [27].

Responses to criticisms

The Pioneer Fund's history after its 1937 incorporation focused on improving hereditary characteristics, which at the time was pursued through the scholarly field eugenics. The scientific community had enthusiasm for what they saw as the promise of eugenics, and most developed nations employed some form of it, most commonly compulsory sterilization of those considered to have incurable hereditary diseases. High school and college textbooks from the 1920s through the 40s often had chapters touting the scientific progress to be had from applying eugenic principles to the population. Following WWII, however, eugenics became associated with the brutal policies of the Nazis and fell out of favour. Still, a few nations maintained large-scale eugenics programs, including compulsory sterilization of mentally handicapped individuals, as well as other practices, until the 1970s. This article or section is missing references or citation of sources. ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ... Compulsory sterilization programs sprouted up in many countries at the beginning of the 20th century, usually as part of a program of negative eugenics -- to prevent undesirable members of the population reproducing. ... A genetic disorder, or genetic disease is a disease caused by abnormal expression of one or more genes in a person causing a clinical phenotype. ... Scientific progress is the idea that scientific knowledge accumulates and refines through either the application of a scientific method, or some more haphazard heuristic. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1971 to 1980, inclusive. ...

In addition to this historical focus of the Pioneer Fund, some of the fund's previous members and grantees, including its main founder Wickliffe Draper, have supported ideas that are now disapproved of, such as racial segregation. The fund's administrators state that criticism should be directed at these past individuals, not the entire organization, which has funded notable scientific work. Today, the fund officially holds no political positions and denies any inappropriate bias in choosing grantees. Wickliffe Draper, seen here in military uniform, dedicated his life to intellectual pursuits and philanthropy. ... Desegregation is the process of ending racial segregation, most commonly used in reference to the United States. ...

Some of the areas funded by the Pioneer Fund are often controversial areas of research, especially among the lay population. Scientists have noted a substantial difference in public opinion and majority scientific opinion regarding the influence of heredity on personality and cognitive ability (behavioral genetics), which is a main area of research funded by the Pioneer Fund. The study of the disparity between racial groups in average cognitive ability test scores (race and intelligence) is even more controversial. Additionally, some of the fund's grantees are advocates of the belief that such differences are almost entirely genetic, as opposed to being driven mostly by environmental variation. IQ tests are designed to give approximately normally distributed results, which causes a bell curve graph of IQ score frequency. ... Behavioural genetics (behavioral genetics) is the field of biology that studies the role of genetics in animal behaviour. ... Normal distribution showing results of studies comparing races and ethnic groups with IQ among U.S. test subjects show differences in average test scores, as seen in this graph based on Reynolds et al. ...

The Pioneer Fund has stated that it rejects racism, and has claimed that it is the victim of smear campaigns waged by those who consider a discussion of race to be taboo. In addition, it has asserted that the majority of the criticism that has so far been directed at the Fund falls into such categories as to make it more-appropriately directed at individuals than at an organization as a whole. A taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) relating to any area of human activity or social custom declared as sacred and forbidden; breaking of the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society. ...

The Fund writes on their website that one should consider the historical context surrounding such beliefs, as many mainstream scientists of the first half the twentieth century supported racialist policies that would be unacceptable today (though at least as many did not). The Fund denies that Wickliffe Draper's views on race left a serious influence on the Fund's decisions, despite the common thread which has run through the Fund's grant-making throughout its existence. Racialism is an emphasis on race or racial considerations. ...

Charles Murray, co-author of the Bell Curve, addressed the fund's history in response to criticism of it: "[T]he relationship between the founder of the Pioneer Fund and today's Pioneer Fund is roughly analogous to the relationship between Henry Ford and today's Ford Foundation."[28] In the 1920s, Henry Ford authored anti-Semitic literature. A response to this comparison is that unlike the Pioneer Fund, the Ford Foundation is not still funding researchers who have a systematic tendency to make claims asserting the genetic basis of a given group's intellectual inferiority. Charles Murray is the name of several notable people: Charles Murray, the Libertarian and author of The Bell Curve. ... The Bell Curve is a controversial, best-selling 1994 book by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray exploring the role of intelligence in American life. ... Further information: Ford Motor Company Time Magazine, January 14, 1935 Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company. ... The Ford Foundation is a charitable foundation based in New York City created to fund programs that promote democracy, reduce poverty and promote international understanding (see mission statement). ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...

Psychologist Ulric Neisser, who was the chairman of the APA's 1995 taskforce charged with writing a consensus statement on intelligence research, gave support for Richard Lynn's history and defense of the fund in a review of Lynn's book The Science of Human Diversity: A History of the Pioneer Fund (2004). Though race and intelligence research "turns [his] stomach," Neisser stated that "Lynn's claim is exaggerated but not entirely without merit: 'Over those 60 years, the research funded by Pioneer has helped change the face of social science.'" Neisser concludes in agreement with Lynn and against William Tucker's critical book[29] on the Pioneer Fund, also reviewed, that the world was actually better off having the Pioneer Fund: "Lynn reminds us that Pioneer has sometimes sponsored useful research - research that otherwise might not have been done at all. By that reckoning, I would give it a weak plus." Ulric Neisser (born 8 December 1928) is an American psychologist. ... Richard Lynn Richard Lynn (born 1930) is a British emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Ulster, known for his work on intelligence and differential psychology. ... Normal distribution showing results of studies comparing races and ethnic groups with IQ among U.S. test subjects show differences in average test scores, as seen in this graph based on Reynolds et al. ... William H. Tucker is a professor of psychology at Rutgers University and the author of several books on race science. ...

End material

Notes

Ulric Neisser (born 8 December 1928) is an American psychologist. ... Normal distribution showing results of studies comparing races and ethnic groups with IQ among U.S. test subjects show differences in average test scores, as seen in this graph based on Reynolds et al. ... Richard Lynn Richard Lynn (born 1930) is a British emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Ulster, known for his work on intelligence and differential psychology. ... Normal distribution showing results of studies comparing races and ethnic groups with IQ among U.S. test subjects show differences in average test scores, as seen in this graph based on Reynolds et al. ... William H. Tucker is a professor of psychology at Rutgers University and the author of several books on race science. ...

References

• The Science of Human Diversity: A History of the Pioneer Fund, Richard Lynn, Rowman & Littlefield 2001, ISBN 0761820418
• Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund, William H. Tucker, University of Illinois Press 2002, ISBN 0252027620
• Bouchard, T. J., Jr., Lykken, D. T., McGue, M., Segal, N. L., & Tellegen, A. (1990). Sources of human psychological difference: The Minnesota study of twins reared apart. Science, 250, 223-228.
• ↑ Joseph L. Graves, "What a tangled web he weaves: Race, reproductive strategies and Rushton's life history theory," Anthropological Theory 2, no. 2 (2002): 131–54; Leonard Lieberman et al., "How 'Caucasoids' Got Such Big Crania and Why They Shrank,"; Current Anthropology 42 (2001): 69–95; Zack Cernovsky, "On the similarities of American blacks and whites: A reply to J.P. Rushton," Journal of Black Studies 25 (1995): 672.
• Neisser, U. (2004). Serious scientists or disgusting racists? Contemporary Psychology, 49, 5-7.

See also

• Nature versus nurture
• Intelligence quotient#Practical importance
• Intelligence quotient#Genetics vs environment

Nature versus nurture is a shorthand expression for debates about the relative importance of an individuals innate qualities (nature) versus personal experiences (nurture) in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits. ... IQ tests are designed to give approximately normally distributed results, which causes a bell curve graph of IQ score frequency. ... IQ tests are designed to give approximately normally distributed results, which causes a bell curve graph of IQ score frequency. ...

External links

• The Pioneer Fund Official website
  • "Controversies:Setting the Record Straight", the Pioneer Fund
  • "The Pioneer Fund and the scientific study of human differences", J. Phillipe Rushton (2002) A reply to Lombardo's article "The American Breed".
  • "How Smart We Are About What We Broadcast: An Open Letter to ABC News" - Robert Gordon (1997)
  • Preface to the Science of Human Diversity, Harry F. Weyher (2001)

J. Philippe Rushton (born 1943 in Bournemouth, England), is a psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario, Canada best known for his controversial work on racial differences. ... Robert Gordon (1668-1731) was born in Aberdeen. ...

Critical

Opinion pieces

• The New York Times: Fund Backs Controversial Study of "Racial Betterment [12/11/77]
• "Racial Scientist Rushton Takes Over Pioneer Fund" by David Lethbridge. The Bethune Institute for Anti-Fascist Studies, January 2003.
• NY Review of Books: 'The Bell Curve' and its Sources
• Eugenics, racism, and conservative ideology (pt. 1)
• The Pioneer Fund: The Nazi Connection
• The Bell Curve and the Pioneer Fund A special report by ABC World News Tonight. November 22, 1994
• "Weird Science" Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Post-Gazette, January 30, 2005

ABC World News Tonight (often abbreviated as WNT) is the ABC television networks flagship evening news program. ... November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated like the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal. // Events January Bill Clinton January 1 : North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect. ... January 30 is the 30th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Scholarly studies

• Institute for the Study of Academic Racism: Pioneer Fund readings
  • Foundation for Fascism: the New Eugenics Movement in the United States, Patterns of Prejudice
  • Race Science and the Pioneer Fund
• The Funding of Scientific Racism Online book
• "The American Breed": Nazi eugenics and the origins of the Pioneer Fund
• Toward a racial abyss: eugenics, Wickliffe Draper, and the origins of The Pioneer Fund

Pro

• The Science of Human Diversity: A History of the Pioneer Fund, Richard Lynn (2001) ISBN 076182040X
• "Pioneer Fundophobia", Steve Sailer (2001)
• "The Pioneer Fund, the Behavioral Sciences, and the Media's False Stories" Harry F. Weyher (1999)