Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher
1890-1962
British Geneticist
Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher was a British geneticist and statistician. To create genetic experiments that yielded greater results with less effort, he pioneered the use of statistics in experimentation, and came up with the now widely used concepts of variance and randomization.
Fisher graduated from the University of Cambridge with a B.A. in astronomy in 1912. While there, he gained an interest in the theory of errors in astronomical observations, which eventually led him to a career in statistical research.
In 1919, he accepted a position as statistician for the Rothamsted Agricultural Experimental Station near Harpenden, Hertfordshire. His work on plant-breeding experiments combined biology and statistics. At Rothamsted, he developed a new technique by which scientists could vary different elements in an experiment to determine the probability that those variations would yield different results. He published his findings in the book Statistical Methods for Research Workers (1925).
While at Rothamsted, Fisher also introduced new theories about randomization andvariance, included in his work The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection (1930), which are now widely used in the field of genetics. His goal was to design plant-breeding experiments to yield the maximum results while using the least amount of time, effort, and money. One problem he discovered was biased selection of materials, which could lead to inaccurate results. To avoid this, Fisher introduced the concept of randomization, which provided that experiments must be conducted among a random sample of the entire population, and must be repeated on a number of control subjects to ensure validity.
Fisher also introduced his concept of variance. At the time, scientists were only able to vary one factor at a time in experiments, allowing for only one potential result. He proposed instead a statistical procedure by which experiments would be designed to answer several questions at once. This was accomplished by dividing each experiment into a series of sub-experiments, each of which differed enough to provide several unique outcomes. Fisher summed up his statistical work in his definitive work, Statistical Methods and Scientific Inference (1956).
In 1933 Fisher became Galton professor of eugenics (the use of selective breeding to improve the heredity of the human race) at the University of London. From 1943 to 1957 he served as Balfour professor of genetics at his alma mater, the University of Cambridge.
For his achievements, Fisher was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1929, and was awarded the Royal Medial of the Society in 1938, as well as the Darwin Medal of the Society in 1948 "in recognition of his distinguished contributions to the theory of natural selection, the concept of its gene complex and the evolution of dominance."
Fisher was knighted in 1952. His last years were spent conducting research in Australia, where he died on July 29, 1962.
This is the complete article, containing 460 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
