Ronald Fisher
1890–1962 · British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist
Topics: learning, biology, simplicity, complexity
Natural selection is a mechanism for generating an exceedingly high degree of improbability.
— Ronald FisherWe may consequently state the fundamental theorem of Natural Selection in the form : The rate of increase in fitness of any organism at any time is equal to its genetic variance in fitness at that time.
— Ronald FisherI believe that no one who is familiar, either with mathematical advances in other fields, or with the range of special biological conditions to be considered, would ever conceive that everything could be summed up in a single mathematical formula, however complex.
— Ronald FisherHowever, perhaps the main point is that you are under no obligation to analyse variance into its parts if it does not come apart easily, and its unwillingness to do so naturally indicates that one’s line of approach is not very fruitful.
— Ronald FisherNatural Selection is not evolution.
— Ronald FisherNo practical biologist interested in sexual reproduction would be led to work out the detailed consequences experienced by organisms having three or more sexes; yet what else should he do if he wishes to understand why the sexes are, in fact, always two?
— Ronald FisherThe analysis of variance is not a mathematical theorem, but rather a convenient method of arranging the arithmetic.
— Ronald Fisher(Coining the phrase ‘test of significance’): Critical tests of this kind may be called tests of significance, and when such tests are available we may discover whether a second sample is or is not significantly different from the first.
— Ronald FisherAfter all, it is a common weakness of young authors to put too much into their papers.
— Ronald FisherTo consult the statistician after an experiment is finished is often merely to ask him to conduct a post mortem examination. He can perhaps say what the experiment died of.
— Ronald Fisher