W.D. Hamilton

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See W.D. Hamilton in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

William Donald "Bill" Hamilton, F.R.S. (Born August 1, 1936 in Cairo, Egypt - Died March 7, 2000 in Oxford, England) was a zoologist, evolutionary biologist and population geneticist noted for his contribution to the Williams revolution, including the theory of kin selection, and to the field of sociobiology.

Biography

Hamilton studied at St John's college, Cambridge, where he was influenced by Ronald Fisher's book The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. He graduated with a 2:1, claiming that if he'd not rebelled against group selectionist ideas he would have done better.

His Ph.D. was from University College, London, his thesis being on inclusive fitness. He went on to work at UCL, before moving on to Oxford where he worked alongside friend and fellow atheist Richard Dawkins, and in 1980 was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society. His research and publications have focused on topics including sex ratios, the red queen theory and oral polio vacine hypothesis of the origin of AIDS.