NIMBioS Facilities: Fisher Conference Room (Room 103A)

Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, known as the father of modern statistics, was born in London, England, on February 17, 1890. Fisher graduated with distinction in mathematics from Cambridge University in 1912. A tutor was said to have commented, "If [Fisher] had stuck to the ropes, he would have made a first-class mathematician, but he would not." Fisher was originally interested in the theory of errors, which led him into the realm of statistics. In 1919, Fisher was offered a position as a statistician at the Rothamsted Agricultural Experiment Station, where he began work on the design of experiments. There, Fisher developed the concept of randomization and the concept of the analysis of variance. Fisher also completed work on gene dominance and fitness, and developed a "Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection," which quantified in genetic terms the main theme of Darwinism's natural selection. He died on July 29, 1962, in Adelaide, Australia.

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From 2008 until early 2021, NIMBioS was supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.