Editing Ronald Fisher (section)

==Recognition==
===Appraisal of scientific merits===
Fisher was elected to the [[Royal Society]] in 1929, the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1934,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ronald Aymler Fisher |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/ronald-aymler-fisher |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |date=9 February 2023 |language=en}}</ref> the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1941,<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Ronald+Fisher&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> and the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1948.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ronald A. Fisher |url=https://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001896.html |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> He was made a [[Knight Bachelor]] by Queen [[Elizabeth II]] in 1952 and awarded the [[Linnean Society of London]] [[Darwin–Wallace Medal]] in 1958.

He won the [[Copley Medal]] and the Royal Medal. He was an Invited Speaker of the [[International Congress of Mathematicians|ICM]] in 1924 in Toronto and in 1928 in Bologna.<ref>{{cite book|author=Fisher, R. A.|chapter=On a property connecting the χ<sup>2</sup> measure of discrepancy with the method of maximum likelihood |title=Atti del Congresso Internazionale dei Matematici: Bologna del 3 al 10 de settembre di 1928 |date=23 April 2024 |volume=6 |pages=95–100 |hdl=2440/15197 }}</ref>

In 1950, [[Maurice Wilkes]] and [[David Wheeler (computer scientist)|David Wheeler]] used the [[Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator]] to solve a [[differential equation]] relating to gene frequencies in a paper by Ronald Fisher.<ref name=":1" /> This represents the first use of a computer for a problem in the field of biology. The [[Kent distribution]] (also known as the Fisher–Bingham distribution) was named after him and [[Christopher Bingham]] in 1982, while the [[Fisher kernel]] was named after Fisher in 1998.<ref>Tommi Jaakkola and David Haussler (1998), Exploiting Generative Models in Discriminative Classifiers. In ''Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 11'', pages 487–493. MIT Press. {{isbn|978-0-262-11245-1}} [https://people.csail.mit.edu/tommi/papers/gendisc.ps PS], [https://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/jaakkola98exploiting.html Citeseer]</ref>

The [[R. A. Fisher Lectureship]] was a North American [[Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies]] (COPSS) annual lecture prize, established in 1963, until the name was changed to COPSS Distinguished Achievement Award and Lectureship in 2020. On 28 April 1998 a minor planet, [[21451 Fisher]], was named after him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=21451|title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser|website=ssd.jpl.nasa.gov}}</ref>

In 2010, the R.A. Fisher Chair in Statistical Genetics was established in University College London to recognise Fisher's extraordinary contributions to both statistics and genetics.

[[Anders Hald]] called Fisher "a genius who almost single-handedly created the foundations for modern statistical science",<ref name="Hald98">{{cite book |last=Hald |first=Anders |author-link=Anders Hald |year=1998 |title=A History of Mathematical Statistics |publisher=Wiley |location=New York |isbn=978-0-471-17912-2}} p.738.</ref> while [[Richard Dawkins]] named him "the greatest biologist since [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]": <blockquote>Not only was he the most original and constructive of the architects of the neo-Darwinian synthesis, Fisher also was the father of modern statistics and experimental design. He therefore could be said to have provided researchers in biology and medicine with their most important research tools, as well as with the modern version of biology's central theorem.<ref>{{cite web |author=Dawkins, Richard |author-link=Richard Dawkins |date=2010 |title=Who is the Greatest Biologist Since Darwin? Why? |url=https://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/leroi11/leroi11_index.html#dawkins |quote=Who is the greatest biologist since Darwin? That's far less obvious, and no doubt many good candidates will be put forward. My own nominee would be Ronald Fisher. Not only was he the most original and constructive of the architects of the neo-Darwinian synthesis. Fisher also was the father of modern statistics and experimental design. He therefore could be said to have provided researchers in biology and medicine with their most important research tools, as well as with the modern version of biology's central theorem.}}</ref> </blockquote>

[[Geoffrey Miller (psychologist)|Geoffrey Miller]] said of him:<blockquote>To biologists, he was an architect of the "modern synthesis" that used mathematical models to integrate Mendelian genetics with Darwin's selection theories. To psychologists, Fisher was the inventor of various statistical tests that are still supposed to be used whenever possible in psychology journals. To farmers, Fisher was the founder of experimental agricultural research, saving millions from starvation through rational crop breeding programs.<ref name="Miller00">[[Geoffrey Miller (psychologist)|Miller, Geoffrey]] (2000). ''The Mating Mind: how sexual choice shaped the evolution of human nature'', London: Heineman, {{ISBN|0-434-00741-2}} (also Doubleday, {{ISBN|0-385-49516-1}}) p.54.</ref></blockquote>

=== Contentious views on eugenics ===
Fisher and Sewall Wright both contributed to the development of [[population genetics]], which became part of the [[Modern synthesis (20th century)|modern synthesis]]. The interpretation of the mathematical theories of population genetics became a bone of contention between Fisher and Wright by the mid-1920s, and the issue became acrimonious. Dispute persisted for the rest of Fisher's life.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hull |first1=David L. |last2=Ruse |first2=Michael |title=The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Biology |date=1 October 2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-82762-1 |page=25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZOgg-x4UyIC&pg=PA25 |language=en}}</ref> A 2021 paper, authored by trustees of the "Fisher Memorial Trust", commented that recent criticism of Fisher could mostly be characterised as "reconsideration of the honour given to individuals from preceding times who are felt to have contributed to social injustice in the past, or to have held views that are felt to have promoted social injustice."<ref name="bodmer21"/>

In June 2020, during the [[George Floyd protests|international protests]] caused by the [[murder of George Floyd]], [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge|Gonville and Caius College]] announced that [[Sir Ronald Fisher window|a 1989 stained-glass window]] commemorating Fisher's work would be removed because of his connection with eugenics.<ref>{{cite web|last=Busby|first=Mattha|date=27 June 2020|title=Cambridge college to remove window commemorating eugenicist|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/27/cambridge-gonville-caius-college-eugenicist-window-ronald-fisher|access-date=2020-06-28|website=The Guardian}}</ref> An accommodation building, built in 2018 and previously named after him, was subsequently renamed too.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=9 June 2020|title=Statement on R A Fisher|url=https://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/statement-r-fisher|access-date=2020-10-29|website=Rothamsted Research}}</ref> [[University College London]] also decided to remove his name from its Centre for Computational Biology.<ref>{{cite web|last=Adams|first=Richard|date=7 January 2021|title=University College London apologises for role in promoting eugenics|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/07/university-college-london-apologises-for-role-in-promoting-eugenics|accessdate=2021-03-11|website=The Guardian}}</ref>

=== Contentious views on smoking===
{{See also|Health effects of tobacco#Early observational studies}}
Fisher rejected the notion of smoking cigarettes being dangerous, calling it "propaganda".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fisher |first1=Ronald A. |title=Cancer and Smoking |journal=Nature |date=August 1958 |volume=182 |issue=4635 |pages=596 |doi=10.1038/182596a0 |pmid=13577916 |bibcode=1958Natur.182..596F }}</ref>