Science  People  Locations  Timeline
Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Home > The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance


 Contents
The Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance is a scientific paper by Ronald Fisher which was published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1918, (volume 52, pages 399—433). In it, Fisher puts forward a genetic model that shows that continuous variation amongst characters could be the result of Mendelian inheritance. The paper also contains the first use of the term variance.

1 Background

Mendelian genetics was rediscovered in 1900. However, there were differences of opinion as to what was the variation that natural selection acted upon. The biometric school, led by Karl Pearson followed Darwin's idea that small differences were important for evolution. The Mendelian school, led by William Bateson, however thought that Mendel's work gave an evolutionary mechanism with large differences.

Joan Box, Fisher's biographer and daughter tells us in her book that Fisher, then a student, had resolved this problem in 1911.

Fisher originally submitted his paper to the Royal Society to be published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of London. The two referees, the biologisy R. C. Punnett and the statistician Karl Pearson expressed reservations and that there was areas which they were unable to judge for lack of expertise. Though they did not reject the paper, Fisher was having a feud with Pearson since 1917, and instead the paper was sent to the Royal Society of EdinburghThe Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. The membership consists of over 1300 peer-elected fellows. It provides annual grants totalling over half a million pounds for research and entrepeneurship. The Society o, who published it in their Transactions.

2 Fisher's model

Fisher first defines his new term of variance, as the square of the standard deviationIn probability and statistics, the standard deviation is the most commonly used measure of statistical dispersion. Standard deviation is defined as the square root of the variance. It is defined this way in order to give us a measure of dispersion that is, because of the manner in which variances may be added. He notes the continuous variation in human characters.

3 References

4 External links

Correlation Between Relatives on the Supposition of Mendelian Inheritance, The

Read more »

Non User