William D. Hamilton
| W. D. Hamilton | |
|---|---|
W. D. Hamilton, 1996
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| Born | William Donald Hamilton 1 August 1936 Cairo, Egypt |
| Died | 7 March 2000 (aged 63) Fitzrovia, London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | Evolutionary biology |
| Alma mater |
University College London London School of Economics St. John's College, Cambridge |
| Academic advisors |
John Hajnal Cedric Smith |
| Doctoral students |
Laurence Hurst Olivia Judson |
| Known for | Kin selection, Hamilton's rule |
| Influences | Ronald Fisher |
| Influenced | Richard Dawkins |
| Notable awards | Newcomb Cleveland Prize (1981) Linnean Medal (1989) Kyoto Prize (1993) Crafoord Prize (1993) Sewall Wright Award (1998) |
William Donald "Bill" Hamilton, FRS (1 August 1936 – 7 March 2000) was an English evolutionary biologist, widely recognised as one of the most significant evolutionary theorists of the 20th century.
Hamilton became famous through his theoretical work expounding a rigorous genetic basis for the existence of altruism, an insight that was a key part of the development of a gene-centric view of evolution. He is considered one of the forerunners of sociobiology, as popularized by E. O. Wilson. Hamilton also published important work on sex ratios and the evolution of sex. From 1984 to his death in 2000, he was a Royal Society Research Professor at Oxford University.
Hamilton was born in 1936 in Cairo, Egypt, the second of seven children. His parents were from New Zealand; his father A. M. Hamilton an engineer, and his mother B. M. Hamilton a medical doctor. The Hamilton family settled in Kent. During the Second World War, the young Hamilton was evacuated to Edinburgh. He had an interest in natural history from an early age and would spend his spare time collecting butterflies, and other insects. In 1946 he discovered E. B. Ford's New Naturalist book Butterflies, which introduced him to the principles of evolution by natural selection, genetics, and population genetics.
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