Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher 474 AT LIFE’S CLOSETo be sure, Fisher’s work in statistics was revolutionary at the field’s concep-
tual foundations. Moreover, Fisher’s work in genetics, highlighted mainly by his
1930 The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, would, with good company in
Haldane and Wright, revolutionize biology. Fisher’s accomplishments did not go
unrecognized. In 1938, he was awarded the medal of the Royal Society, in 1948,
the Darwin medal, and in 1955 the Copley medal. In 1943 Fisher was appointed
Balfour Professor of Genetics at Cambridge University upon the retirement of
the geneticist R. C. Punnett. The department had been decimated due to World
War II. However, Fisher was able to recruit, in 1948, Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza,
the famed Italian population geneticist known especially for his investigations of
human genetic diversity. In 1952 Fisher was dubbed Knight Bachelor by Queen
Elizabeth II. And in 1957 Fisher became President of his alma mater, Gonville
and Caius College, Cambridge. These are only some of the honors bestowed upon
Fisher.
After a luminous career as statistician and biologist, Fisher died at the age of
73 on July 29, 1962 in Adelaide, Australia where he had retired in 1957 to take
a post as a senior research fellow at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization. Fisher the man has been described as charming and warm
among friends, but with a volatile temper. Fisher’s temper, combined with an
unwavering commitment to his views, drove him to heated controversies with other
scientists. Fisher’s writings have been described as difficult, with much of what he
contributed more effectively conveyed by others who were able to simplify Fisher’s
presentation, but at the same time as genius.
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