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William Donald Hamilton (1936–2000) was a British evolutionary biologist famous for his work explaining social behavior through the framework of evolution by natural selection.
William Donald Hamilton (1936–2000), commonly referred to as W.D. Hamilton, was a British evolutionary biologist famous for his work explaining social behavior through the framework of evolution by natural selection. He is widely recognized as one of the most distinguished evolutionary theorists since Charles Darwin (Dawkins, 2000; Trivers, 2000). William Donald Hamilton was born on August 1, 1936 in Cairo, Egypt, to Archibald Milne Hamilton, an engineer, and B.M. Hamilton, a medical doctor (“W.D. Hamilton,” 2020). As a child, he was interested in natural history and was introduced to the principles of evolution by natural selection and genetics by E.B. Ford’s Butterflies (1945) which would serve as inspiration for his later work (“W.D. Hamilton,” 2020). He went to Tonbridge...
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References
Axelrod, R., & Hamilton, W. D. (1981). The evolution of cooperation. Science, 211(4489), 1390–1396. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.7466396.
Dawkins, R. (2000, March 12). W.D. Hamilton, an obituary. Edge. https://www.edge.org/conversation/w-d-hamilton-an-obituary
Ford, E. B. (1945). Butterflies. Sons: William Collins.
Hamilton, W. D. (1964a). The genetical evolution of social behavior I. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(64)90038-4.
Hamilton, W. D. (1964b). The genetical evolution of social behavior II. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7(1), 17–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(64)90039-6.
Hamilton W. D. (1967). Extraordinary sex ratios: A sex-ratio theory for sex linkage and inbreeding has new implications in cytogenetics and entomology. Science (New York. N.Y.), 156(3774), 477–488. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.156.3774.477
Hamilton, W.D. (2020, March 26). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._D._Hamilton
Hamilton, W. D., & Zuk, M. (1982). Heritable true fitness and bright birds: A role for parasites? Science, 218(4570), 384–387. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.7123238.
Smith, J., & Price, G. (1973). The logic of animal conflict. Nature, 246, 15–18. https://doi.org/10.1038/246015a0.
Trivers, R. (2000). William Donald Hamilton (1936–2000). Nature (London), 404(6780), 828–828. https://doi.org/10.1038/35009190
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Meehan, M.K., Shackelford, T.K. (2021). William Donald Hamilton. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_355-1
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