THE REPOSITORY FOR GERMINAL CHOICE
 A.k.a: The Nobel Sperm Bank
 Founded by Robert Graham
 Escondido, California
 Opened in 1980, closed in 1999
 Radical, controversial experiment
GOALS OF THE NOBEL SPERM BANK
 Create new generations of healthy, intelligent humans
 Reduce significance of genetic diseases
 Track the children’s lives
 Solve the nature v.s nurture debate
 Save humanity
DAVID PLOTZ
 “The Genius Babies and How They Grew” article- Slate 2001
 Published “The Genius Factory” in 2005
 Interviewed over 24 families
 Self-proclaimed semen detective
HISTORY OF EUGENICS
 Eugenics= well born
 Late 19th century in U.S and Britian
 Overpopulation, Darwinism, and racial paranoia
 Negative Eugenics
 Positive Eugenics
SOCIAL DARWINISM
 Survival of the fittest applied to mankind
 Thomas Mathus
 Francis Galton- Father of Eugenics
 “Hereditary Genius”- 1869
U.S RACIAL TENSION & PARANOIA
 Threats of immigration
 Supporters: upper/middle class white Americans
 Germany and American Eugenics
EUGENIC STERILIZATION
 1910: Charles Davenport
Eugenics Record Office in Cold Springs Harbor, Long Island
Laws put in place against ‘mental defectives’
Eugenic sterilization of the unfit
By 1917, fifteen states legalized sterilization of the unfit
By the 1930s, over 35,000 Americans were sterilized
Another 25,000 were sterilized before the 1960s
POSITIVE EUGENICS TAKE OVER- MAYBE?
 “Daedalus” written by J.B.S Haldane, 1923.
 Dr. Addison David Hard & William Pancoat
 The first artificial insemination: 1909
AID: ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION BY DONOR
 Outrage, disbelief
 Immoral, against god and nature
 Silent tolerance
 Quiet spread of AID
FROZEN SPERM!
 1949: scientists discover how to freeze sperm
 1950’s and 1960s: scientists perfect the freezing process
 AID trend & business
 AID at home
HOUSING THE SPERM
 Hermann Muller
One of america’s first outstanding geneticists
Nobel Prize in medicine
Hermann Muller & Robert Graham
Future of Man
Plan the first sperm bank
Difference in ideals
Hermann Muller dies in 1967
ROBERT K. GRAHAM
 Born June 9th, 1906 in Harbor Springs, Michigan
 Studied optometry at Ohio State
 Had 8 children, from 3 different wives, and 1 out of wedlock
ROBERT GRAHAM’S INSPIRATION
 Makes $100 million by inventing shatterproof glasses
 “The Future of Man”- 1971
ROBERT GRAHAM’S (RACIST?) INSPIRATION
 Disgust for the lower class
 Blamed social welfare programs for societal decline
 Emotional racism v.s Scientific racism?
“save mankind from a genetic catastrophe,
retrograde humans are swamping out the intelligent
minority” –Robert Graham
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
 Goal: find donors with a Nobel Prize in science
 3 Nobel sperm donors by 1980
 All donors kept confidential
Robert Graham in his Repository
WILLIAM SHOCKLEY
 Born in 1910
 Only child of a wealthy engineer & ambitious mother
 Physicist
 Received the highest civilian award from the Navy
 Silicon Valley
 1956: Awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the
transistor
William Shockley
SHOCKLEY’S REPUTATION
 Graham admired Shockley, funded his research
 Research became racially based
 Reputation decline 1960s-1970s
“I would think that it would be quite likely that there was
some significant amount of elimination of genetic
diseases [in Nazi Germany]. Just as the autobahns were
a good thing, maybe there were some other good things
about Hitler.” –William Shockley
WILLIAM SHOCKLEY & THE NOBEL SPERM BANK
 1st to donate a sample in 1977, and again in 1978
 February 29th,1980: Public debut of the Repository for Germinal
Choice
 William Shockley in the public eye
 Graham’s biggest liability
CHANGES TO THE REPOSITORY
 End all association with William Shockley
 No Nobel sperm, no Nobel babies
 Search for tall, handsome, intelligent men
 1982: Good sperm, but no pregnancies
1ST BABY IS BORN! – VICTORIA KOWALSKI
 Born April 1982 to Joyce and Jack Kowalski
 Destined to be a genius
 Kowalski parents controversy
2ND BABY IS BORN! – DORON BLAKE
 Born in August of 1982 to mother Afton Blake
 “Genius baby”: using computers, playing chess, learning algebra
and Einstein’s theory of relativity
 Robert Graham’s shining star
Doron & Afton Blake
Doron Blake
MORE BABIES!
 Women want genius sperm
 Mid 1980s: Dozen of babies were born each year
 Robert Graham dies 2 years before Repository closes
 Over 200 children born by the time the Repository closed in
1999.
 Mystery of the genius babies
INVESTIGATING “THE GENIUS FACTORY”: DONORS
 David Plotz: lead ‘detective’, author of “The Genius Factory”
 Donor Coral: Jeremy Sampson
Father of Tom Legare & Alton Grant
Fathered an estimated 30 children
Michael: Donor & natural-born son of Nobelist
Extreme narcissism in donors?
INVESTIGATING “THE GENIUS FACTORY”: DONORS
Rationalists v.s Egotists
Donor White: Roger
FLAWS OF THE REPOSITORY FOR GERMINAL CHOICE
 Donor Records & tracking the children’s lives
 Older donors=higher risks
 Genius sperm is a rip off
 Genetic Expectations
 Nature vs. Nurture, the forever unsolved mystery
 Family Disparities, absent father
IMPACTS OF THE REPOSITORY FOR GERMINAL CHOICE
 Brought over 200 children into the world!
 Transformed how we think about babies
 Turned sperm banks into a business
SPERM BANKS TODAY
 Basically all sperm banks are genius sperm banks today
 Lesbians
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
 Do you think Robert Graham, founder of the Nobel Sperm Bank,
was truly a racist, or just a product of his time in history?
 Do you think the outcome/reputation of the Nobel Sperm Bank
would be different if William Shockley, and the other
controversies, weren’t associated with it?
 If you were unable to have children, would you consider applying
to the Nobel Sperm bank? (assuming it is the 1980s, not today)