Abstract
R.A. Fisher was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century, whose scientific contributions ranged over a very wide area of science. He was, however, from an early age a supporter of eugenic ideas, and for this reason has been accused of being a racist and an advocate of forced sterilisation of certain kinds of people. Concerns are now increasingly being raised about historical figures such as Fisher, stimulated by recent abhorrent racially motivated events. A primary aim of this paper is to conduct a careful analysis of Fisher’s writings on eugenics and related areas, in the context of these adverse views. We first review his scientific achievements and then describe his early development of interests in genetics and eugenic ideas. We outline his concerns about the inverse relationship between intellectual ability and fertility, his views on how this might adversely affect the development of human societies, his eugenic proposals for differential family allowances, and his support for voluntary sterilisation for the “feebleminded”. We follow this with an account of Fisher’s interaction with the Nazi-supporting German human geneticist Verschuer, and Fisher’s response to the 1952 UNESCO statement on “The Race Concept”. We finally discuss attitudes to Fisher’s eugenics related activities in a modern context. Our conclusion is that, however much people now reasonably disagree with his stated ideas on eugenics and racial issues, there is no case for dishonouring him and allowing these concerns to outweigh the appreciation of his enormous scientific and humanitarian contributions.
Highlights
Fisher emphasised the importance of having statisticians embedded in agricultural, medical and other research institutes, an approach that helped to widen the successful application of his many innovative statistical developments
He had extraordinary geometrical insight and made major contributions in probability applied to multidimensional problems, the subject called multivariate analysis
The only reason many say they have heard of Fisher is because of his exact test for the analysis of 2 × 2 tables!
Summary
R.A. Fisher was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century (Fig. 1). Fisher was one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century (Fig. 1) He was a man of extraordinary ability and originality whose scientific contributions ranged over a very wide area of science, from biology through statistics to ideas on continental drift, and whose work has had a huge positive impact on human welfare. Some of his large volume of work is not widely used or accepted at the current time, but his scientific brilliance has never been challenged He was from an early age a supporter of certain eugenic ideas, and it is for this reason that he has been accused of being a racist and an advocate of forced sterilisation (Evans 2020).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
