Cyril L. Burt

Cyril Burt was an English educational psychologist who is most well-known for his studies on the heritability of intelligence. In his pursuit to prove that intelligence is innate, Burt published widely on twin intelligence, juvenile delinquency, educational backwardness, and intelligence testing. Outside of academia, Burt held considerable influence over the English educational system in the mid-twentieth century, and contributed to reports that established the tripartite scheme of primary, grammar, and technical schools and the 11 plus examination in the United Kingdom. A few years after Burt’s death, researchers began to notice statistical anomalies in some of his data. It appears that Burt used fraudulent data and frequently published papers containing incorrect calculations. As a result, Burt and his work are closely associated with scandal and fraud. Despite the debate that ensued about the quality of Burt’s research, Burt was a pioneer in the field of psychology and the study of intelligence.