Fisher Memorial Trust

The Fisher Memorial Trust was set up to promote interest in the life and work of the great statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist, Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1890-1962) and to maintain his scientific legacy by encouraging discussion of the scientific fields in which he was active.

Charity Commission charity number 313536

Committee members

Society	Representative	Position
Biometric Society	Prof Rosemary Bailey
Biometric Society	Prof Chris Glasbey
Biometric Society	Prof John Gower
Genetics Society	Prof Brian Charlesworth, FRS
Genetics Society	Prof Adam Eyre-Walker	Treasurer
Royal Society	Sir Walter Bodmer, FRS	Chairman
Royal Statistical Society	Sir David Cox, FRS
Royal Statistical Society	Prof Stephen Senn	Secretary

Window at Gonville & Caius College Cambridge
(Photograph by Denise Till)

The Fisher Memorial Lectures

I	Dr. F. Yates	23.3.66	Computers, the second revolution in statistics.
II	Dr. R. R. Race	6.3.68	Blood groups in human genetics
III	Prof. E. A. Cornish	3.9.69	Developments from the Fisher-Cornish expansions.
IV	Prof. K. Mather	18.12.70	Biometrical genetics.
V	Prof. G. A. Barnard	19.9.72	Statistical inference and its historical development
VI	Prof. L. L. Cavalli-Sforza	24.6.74	Cultural versus biological evolution
VII	Prof. R. Hide	17.11.77	Motions in planetry fluids
VIII	Prof. D. J. Finney	20.9.78	Bioassay and the practice of statistical inference
IX	Prof. J. Maynard Smith	19.3.81	The evolution of the sex ratio
X	Prof. J. H. Bennett	3.6.81	R. A. Fisher and The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection
XI	Prof. S. Karlin	20.4.83	Kin selection and altruism
XII	Prof. D. R. Cox	5.4.84	Regression and the design of experiments
XIII	Prof. S. M. Stigler	22.9.86	Francis Galton and the unravelling of the normal world
XIV	Prof. G. E. Box	23.3.88	Quality improvement, an expanding domain for the application of scientific method
XV	Sir Walter Bodmer	23.3.90	Genetic sequences
XVI	Prof. D. Lindley	17.9.92	Statistics of the market place
XVII	Prof. A. J. Jeffereys	16.8.93	Molecular sleuthing: the story of genetic fingerprinting
XVIII	Dr. A. W. F. Edwards	20.10.94	Fiducial inference and the fundamental theorem of natural selection
XIX	Prof. M. J. R. Healy	3.4.95	The life and work of Frank Yates
XX	Prof. J. A. Nelder	5.9.96	Computers and statistics: the continuing revolution.
XXI	Sir John Kingman	16.11.98	Mathematics of genetic diversity: before and after DNA.
XXII	Prof. B Efron	12.9.00	The essential Fisher
XXIII	Sir Richard Doll	29.10.01	Proof of causality: Deductions from epidemiological evidence
XXIV	Dr. Oliver Mayo	26.06.02	The realisation of Fisher’s research programme
XXV	Prof. Warren Ewens	7.04.03	Statistics and the transformation from genetics to genomics
XXVI	Prof. Adrian Smith	8.09.04	Towards an Evidence-Based Society: the Role of Statistical Thinking
XXVII	Prof. E.A.Thompson	4.12.06	1953: an unrecognized summit in Human Genetic Linkage Analysis
XXVIII	Prof. R.A. Bailey	15.07.08	Design of dose-escalation trials
XXIX	Prof B Charlesworth and Prof D Charlesworth	6.01.10	Fisher and Modern Evolutionary Genetics
XXX	Prof Philip Dawid	10.11.11	Causal inference from experimental data
XXXI	Prof Peter Donnelly	14.11.12	Genetic Variation in Human Health and Disease

Most recent lecture

The 31st Fisher memorial lecture was given by Prof Peter Donnelly of the University of Oxford on the subject of Genetic Variation in Human Health and Disease at the Royal Society, 14 November 2012.

Next lecture

The 32nd Fisher memorial lecture, 3 July 2013
Professor David Spiegelhalter, University of Cambridge

Putting life into numbers: the highs and lows of communicating statistics to the public

Abstract:Statisticians do a great and valuable service in designing and analysing biomedical studies. But they have a tendency to feel it is someone else’s job to take the final step in communicating the findings in a readily-accessible form. I shall argue that this should be an integral part of a professional statistician’s role, and try and get cheap laughs by showing the disastrous things that have been done when numbers get in the wrong hands.

This will be given on as part of the IBS Channel meeting in St Andrews, 3-5 July 2013

Links

The RA Fisher Digital Archive University of Adelaide

Figures from the history of statistics Site maintained by John Aldrich

A Guide to R.A. Fisher Specific Fisher guide maintained by John Aldrich

Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher MacTutor History of Mathematics Biography

Ronald Aylmer Fisher Monash University Fisher pages

COPSS Awards Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies Awards (including Fisher lecture)

Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies list of Fisher lecturers History of the COPSS Awards

Chance, risk and healthOpen University series of 4 podcasts on RA Fisher and his legacy

Wikiquote page of quotations from the works of Fisher

Fisher memorabilia

The committe are interested to establish an index of Fisher memorabilia. If anybody has knowledge of the whereabouts of any Fisher memorabilia or is interested in learning of their whereabouts, please contact the secretary Stephen Senn stephen@senns.demon.co.uk or any member of the committee.

This page last updated 3 May 2013

Page maintained by Stephen Senn stephen@senns.demon.co.uk