ABSTRACT
Ronald Aylmer Fisher special ability in mathematics showed at an early age. He was fortunate at Stanmore Park School in being taught by W. N. Roe, a brilliant mathematical teacher and a well-known cricketer, and at Harrow School by C. H. P. Mayo and W. N. Roseveare. In 1917, Fisher married Ruth Eileen, the daughter of a physician. The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, which was published in 1930, completed the reconciliation of Darwinian ideas on natural selection with Mendelian theory. In 1933, Fisher’s genetical work led to his appointment at University College, London, as Galton Professor in succession to Karl Pearson. Fisher developed several lines of argument in questioning the causal relation of lung cancer to smoking. Fisher was particularly interested in the controversy that had raged about the hereditary determination of metrical or continuous variation and the assumption of the early geneticists that their findings were in conflict with Darwin’s notion of evolution by natural selection.
