Cornish studied agricultural biochemistry at U Melbourne, graduating in 1931. His first job was at an agricultural research institute where he was confronted by the need for statistics. His earliest work was concerned with the 23-year rainfall cycle in Adelaide (related to the well-known sunspot cycle). In 1937, at his own expense, he visited Sir Ronald Fisher in England. This visit initiated fundamental work on approximations to distributions. Subsequently he headed the CSIRO, Australia's largest scientific and industrial research agency. He was President of the IBS from 1970 to 1972.

http://www.csiropedia.csiro.au/display/CSIROpedia/Cornish,+Edmund+Alfred Fuller biography and photograph.