John Maynard Smith (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British theoretical and mathematical evolutionary biologist and geneticist.
Price, and theorised on other problems such as the evolution of sex and signalling theory. ==Biography== ===Early years=== John Maynard Smith was born in London, the son of the surgeon Sidney Maynard Smith, but following his father's death in 1928, the family moved to Exmoor, where he became interested in natural history.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, he defied his party's line and volunteered for service.
He was rejected, however, because of poor eyesight and was told to finish his engineering degree, which he did in 1941.
Between 1942 and 1947, he applied his degree to military aircraft design. ===Second degree=== Maynard Smith, having decided that aircraft were "noisy and old-fashioned", then took a change of career, entering University College London to study fruit fly genetics under Haldane.
Between 1942 and 1947, he applied his degree to military aircraft design. ===Second degree=== Maynard Smith, having decided that aircraft were "noisy and old-fashioned", then took a change of career, entering University College London to study fruit fly genetics under Haldane.
He published a popular Penguin book, The Theory of Evolution, in 1958 (with subsequent editions in 1966, 1975, 1993). He became gradually less attracted to communism and became a less active member, finally leaving the party in 1956 like many other intellectuals, after the Soviet Union brutally suppressed the Hungarian Revolution (Haldane had left the party in 1950 after becoming similarly disillusioned).
After graduating he became a lecturer in zoology at his alma mater between 1952 and 1965, where he directed the Drosophila lab and conducted research on population genetics.
He published a popular Penguin book, The Theory of Evolution, in 1958 (with subsequent editions in 1966, 1975, 1993). He became gradually less attracted to communism and became a less active member, finally leaving the party in 1956 like many other intellectuals, after the Soviet Union brutally suppressed the Hungarian Revolution (Haldane had left the party in 1950 after becoming similarly disillusioned).
He published a popular Penguin book, The Theory of Evolution, in 1958 (with subsequent editions in 1966, 1975, 1993). He became gradually less attracted to communism and became a less active member, finally leaving the party in 1956 like many other intellectuals, after the Soviet Union brutally suppressed the Hungarian Revolution (Haldane had left the party in 1950 after becoming similarly disillusioned).
He also admitted that a research program in evolutionary biology explicitly informed by Marxism seemed to bear little fruit. ===University of Sussex=== In 1962 he was one of the founding members of the University of Sussex and was a dean between 1965–85.
After graduating he became a lecturer in zoology at his alma mater between 1952 and 1965, where he directed the Drosophila lab and conducted research on population genetics.
He also admitted that a research program in evolutionary biology explicitly informed by Marxism seemed to bear little fruit. ===University of Sussex=== In 1962 he was one of the founding members of the University of Sussex and was a dean between 1965–85.
He published a popular Penguin book, The Theory of Evolution, in 1958 (with subsequent editions in 1966, 1975, 1993). He became gradually less attracted to communism and became a less active member, finally leaving the party in 1956 like many other intellectuals, after the Soviet Union brutally suppressed the Hungarian Revolution (Haldane had left the party in 1950 after becoming similarly disillusioned).
Prior to his death the building housing much of life sciences at Sussex was renamed the John Maynard Smith Building in his honour. ===Evolution and the Theory of Games=== In 1973 Maynard Smith formalised a central concept in evolutionary game theory called the evolutionarily stable strategy, based on a verbal argument by George R.
He published a popular Penguin book, The Theory of Evolution, in 1958 (with subsequent editions in 1966, 1975, 1993). He became gradually less attracted to communism and became a less active member, finally leaving the party in 1956 like many other intellectuals, after the Soviet Union brutally suppressed the Hungarian Revolution (Haldane had left the party in 1950 after becoming similarly disillusioned).
The Hawk-Dove game is arguably his single most influential game theoretical model. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977.
During the late 1980s he also became interested in the other major evolutionary transitions with the evolutionary biologist Eörs Szathmáry.
This area of research culminated in his 1982 book Evolution and the Theory of Games.
In 1986 he was awarded the Darwin Medal. ===Evolution of sex and other major transitions in evolution=== Maynard Smith published a book titled The Evolution of Sex which explored in mathematical terms, the notion of the "two-fold cost of sex".
A popular science version of the book, The Origins of Life: From the birth of life to the origin of language, was published in 1999. In 1991 he was awarded the Balzan Prize for genetics and evolution "for his powerful analysis of evolutionary theory and of the role of sexual reproduction as a critical factor in evolution and in the survival of species; for his mathematical models applying the theory of games to evolutionary problems" (motivation of the Balzan General Prize Committee).
He published a popular Penguin book, The Theory of Evolution, in 1958 (with subsequent editions in 1966, 1975, 1993). He became gradually less attracted to communism and became a less active member, finally leaving the party in 1956 like many other intellectuals, after the Soviet Union brutally suppressed the Hungarian Revolution (Haldane had left the party in 1950 after becoming similarly disillusioned).
* 1993 edn Maynard Smith, J.
Together they wrote an influential 1995 book The Major Transitions in Evolution, a seminal work which continues to contribute to ongoing issues in evolutionary biology.
In 1995 he was awarded the Linnean Medal by the Linnean Society and in 1999 he was awarded the Crafoord Prize jointly with Ernst Mayr and George C.
A popular science version of the book, The Origins of Life: From the birth of life to the origin of language, was published in 1999. In 1991 he was awarded the Balzan Prize for genetics and evolution "for his powerful analysis of evolutionary theory and of the role of sexual reproduction as a critical factor in evolution and in the survival of species; for his mathematical models applying the theory of games to evolutionary problems" (motivation of the Balzan General Prize Committee).
In 1995 he was awarded the Linnean Medal by the Linnean Society and in 1999 he was awarded the Crafoord Prize jointly with Ernst Mayr and George C.
In 2001 he was awarded the Kyoto Prize. In his honour the European Society for Evolutionary Biology has an award for extraordinary young evolutionary biology researchers named The John Maynard Smith Prize. ===Animal Signals=== His final book, Animal Signals, co-authored with David Harper, on signalling theory was published in 2003. ===Death=== He died on 19 April 2004 sitting in a chair at home, surrounded by books.
In 2001 he was awarded the Kyoto Prize. In his honour the European Society for Evolutionary Biology has an award for extraordinary young evolutionary biology researchers named The John Maynard Smith Prize. ===Animal Signals=== His final book, Animal Signals, co-authored with David Harper, on signalling theory was published in 2003. ===Death=== He died on 19 April 2004 sitting in a chair at home, surrounded by books.
John Maynard Smith (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British theoretical and mathematical evolutionary biologist and geneticist.
In 2001 he was awarded the Kyoto Prize. In his honour the European Society for Evolutionary Biology has an award for extraordinary young evolutionary biology researchers named The John Maynard Smith Prize. ===Animal Signals=== His final book, Animal Signals, co-authored with David Harper, on signalling theory was published in 2003. ===Death=== He died on 19 April 2004 sitting in a chair at home, surrounded by books.
Since 2010, the medal has been awarded annually. ==Publications== Maynard Smith, J.
All text is taken from Wikipedia. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License .
Page generated on 2021-08-05