Ronald Fisher and Human Blood Groups

Nancy Hall
University of Delaware Academic Center

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     Last modified: April 9, 2005
     Presentation date: 07/14/2005 9:15 AM in MACK 237
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Abstract
Session: English Pioneers in Heredity: Karl Pearson on Mendelian Genetics and Ronald Fisher on Human Blood Groups


Ronald Fisher began working on human blood groups in 1935, with funding frm the Rockefeller Foundation. The work continued through the war years, with difficulty, and in 1943 Fisher and R. Race announced a theory of the Rh factor, that it is controlled by three genes very closely located on the same chromosome. This discovery involved both Fisher's knowledge of genetics and his skills in mathematics. Fisher not only provided a geometric rendition of the theory - a cube with the possible three-allele groupings on the eight vertices - but also predicted that certain blood types then unknown would be found; some of these later were found to exist.

Multiple Paper Session:
Other papers in this session:
Karl Pearson on Mendelian Genetics and his Chi-Square Tests