Background
Mendelian genetics was rediscovered in 1900. However, there were differences of opinion as to 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 states in her book that Fisher, then a student, had resolved this problem in 1911.
Fisher had originally submitted his paper (then entitled "The correlation to be expected between relatives on the supposition of Mendelian inheritance") to the Royal Society, to be published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of London. The two referees, the biologist R. C. Punnett and the statistician Karl Pearson, believed that the paper contained areas they were unable to judge, due to lack of expertise, and expressed some reservations. Though the paper was not rejected, Fisher carried a feud with Pearson from 1917 on, and instead sent the paper via J. Arthur Thomson to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which published it in its Transactions.
Read more about this topic: The Correlation Between Relatives On The Supposition Of Mendelian Inheritance
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