The Genius Factory Lauren Bro oks The Book

The Genius Factory Lauren Bro oks

The Book & Author 0 All details changed 0 David Plotz 0 Mothers profession 0 Inspiration from his father 0 Age 10 0 Education and Careers 0 Married, 3 children

How it began 0 2000 began doing research 0 What he knew 1980 -1999 0 Robert Graham and William Shockley 0 Within the 19 years, over 200 kids born 0 Statistic found 0 Curiosity with his daughter 0 If this is now, what’s in the future? 0 Published article as first step

Robert Graham 0 Born 1906, oldest of four 0 Father Frank 0 Mother Fern Klark 0 Childhood 0 Caddied, mainly to be around the smart men 0 Learned racism

Robert Graham 0 Studying music to become “a star” 0 Moving to New York 0 Wife #1 and three children 0 Changed his life goals- Optometry 0 World War 2 0 Got bored with his job 0 Plastic Lenses!

Plastic Lenses 0 Fail, SUCCESS! 0 Slow start until fashion hit 0 1960’s big glasses 0 First antireflective coating 0 First UV protected lenses 0 Millionaire

Family Web 0 Great fame, miserable personal life 0 Divorced Wife #1 0 Married Wife #2 – 2 more children 0 Wife #2 dies 0 Child #6 out of wedlock 0 Wife #3 Marta Ve Everton, 2 children 0 Total of 8 children 0 Followed in his fathers footsteps

Robert’s Views 0 Ephraim Shay – childless inspiration 0 No religion, faith in eugenics 0 Idiots were multiplying too fast 0 Civil and Women’s rights = book 0 “Future of a man: Act now or humanity will die” 0 Why are smart people using birth control? ?

0 “the disappearance of genes for high intelligence is a defeat for the uniqueness of man, and erosion of the essence of the human condition. The childlessness of an Isaac Newton or a George Washington, the extinction of the Lincoln family, the spinsterhood of the brightest girl in the class, are great biological tragedies. As a result, mankind is deprived of some of that essential quality which separates him from the apes. ”

History of Eugenics 0 Eugenics began in the 1880’s 0 Scared of overpopulation, Darwinism must work 0 Francis Galton 0 Greek for “well-born” 0 Hereditary Genius 0 British only talked about it, Americans did something about it

American History 0 Scared about the blacks and immigrants 0 1910 First Eugenics Record Office 0 1920, eugenics courses in college 0 American Eugenics Society Catechism 0 Laws preventing “Mental defectives” from marrying 0 1915 Harry Haiselden – Chicago Doctor 0 Wanted everyone sterilized 0 1907 - Law of forced sterilization in Indiana 0 Within 10 years, 15 states enforced law

Case of Carrie Buck 0 First case to go to U. S Supreme Court 0 Virginia law- needed to be 3 generations of feebleminded

Interesting Information 0 End of 1960’s, 60, 000 Americans sterilized 0 Child consent 0 Ideas spread to the world 0 Hitler 0 “Fitter Family Contest” 0 Haldane predicting 2073

Herman Muller 0 Nobel Prize- radiation causes mutations 0 Sperm Donor traits: Intelligence and “Comradeliness” 0 Freezing and thawing sperm-save for the future 0 Graham asked Muller to write introduction 0 Muller and Graham started working together 0 Realized they didn’t agree 0 Muller thankfully died

1976 Robert was ready 0 Gave company work to his son 0 Sold it for more than $70 million 0 Now he had the time and money to begin the bank 0 Moved to California-perfect location 0 Hired Stephan Broder 0 Ideas for donors- science intelligence only 0 Side fact- his own island

Collections Begin 0 Sent flattering letters to noble scientists 0 Followed up with a phone call scheduling appointment 0 Graham and Broder loved the trips 0 Background research to make polite small talk 0 Hotel rooms 0 “I don’t think we brought ‘inspirational literature, they were older fellows and that did not seem appropriate” - Broder 0 Strange arrangements and difficulties

The repository for Germinal Choice 0 Los Angeles Times- Public Debut 0 Grahams statements 0 Extremely racist 0 No Nazi 0 Skeptical reporter Edwin Chen 0 New nickname – Nobel Prize Sperm Bank 0 Word spread like wildfire

William Shockley 0 “Bill, go set the world on fire” 0 All about showing off 0 Schooling 0 World War II 0 Bell Labs 0 Junction Transistor 0 Celebrity to funk 0 New focus- study of black genetics

William donating 0 Graham desired Shockley 0 Credibility for the bank decreased 0 New comedian focus 0 Died down, once again Shockley in a funk 0 Other donors quit 0 No Nobel Prize Baby……ever. 0 What do customers want? 0 Graham finally had the attention

Victoria Kowalski 0 First bank baby!! 0 Ruined reputation once again 0 Felon parents 0 Abusive to previous children 0 Credit and loan fraud

Doron Blake 0 Greek for “gift” 0 Helped bank’s reputation 0 New Born=keep time to classical music 0 Age 2= computer 0 Age 5= play chess 0 Kindergarten= Iliad, algebra 0 Age 7= draft of children’s book 0 Age 9= Einsteins Theory of relativity 0 Bank’s new Mascot

David’s response to the article 0 Didn’t expect to get much 0 Edward Burnham 0 Publishing Edwards Article 0 Michael- son of sperm donor and sperm donor 0 Evolutionary basis 0 Parents, kids, 2 dozen families 0 Lorraine O’Brien 0 Emotional void 0 Semen Detective

Donor Coral 0 The story of Tom 0 Sister Jessica, mother Mary, father Alvin 0 Marry couldn’t remember 0 Contacted David 0 Marta and Hazel 0 Jessica- Fuchsia, Tom – Coral 0 Any siblings? 0 Alton Grant 0 Contacting Coral

The truth of Coral 0 Tom and Lana 0 Son – first Nobel Prize grand-baby 0 Doing well, but still felt a burden of genes 0 Finally found Coral 0 Weird meeting situation 0 Lost interest, lost the care for connection

Donor White 0 Joy 0 Dora 0 Joy meeting White 0 Continuing connections 0 Poem 0 Discontinued connection 0 Harry Potter 0 Another Slate article, no outcome.

Happy Ending for White 0 Sickness 0 Years of sadness 0 Finally meeting his daughter! 0 Happy ever after 0 Scared to meet other children for sake of disappointment

End of the bank 0 Graham needed a plan 0 Floyd Kimble-cash cow 0 Death of Robert Graham, 1997 0 Death of Kimble, 1998 0 1999, The bank closed 0 No “Sperm sugar daddy” saved it

Results of the author’s search 0 30/215 - not random sample 0 Usually single (divorced) mothers 0 Not dramatic results 0 Nature vs. nurture? 0 Doron 0 Who really matters in your life?

Visual and Audio 0 Brochure 0 http: //www. npr. org/books/titles/138403361/thegenius-factory-the-curious-history-of-the-nobel-prizesperm-bank 4: 30 -6 Tom and Jeremy 0 Donor White catalog entry 73 0 Donor Coral catalog entry 183

Summary questions? ? 0 Do you know anyone who had used a sperm bank or is the result of a sperm donor? 0 If you were a donor child, would you want to know your donor father? 0 What could be complications for the children with the bank closing? 0 In the future, do you think it will be normal to “pick” your child genetically (blue or brown eyes) ? 0 What are your views on artificial insemination? Is it selfish?

References 0 http: //www. nndb. com/people/213/000364118/ 0 Google images 0 http: //www. npr. org/books/titles/138403361/thegenius-factory-the-curious-history-of-the-nobel-prizesperm-bank