About W. D. Hamilton
William Donald Hamilton (1 August 1936 – 7 March 2000) was a British evolutionary biologist, recognised as one of the most significant evolutionary theorists of the 20th century. Hamilton became known for his theoretical work expounding a rigorous genetic basis for the existence of altruism, an insight that was a key part of the development of the gene-centered view of evolution. He is considered one of the forerunners of sociobiology. Hamilton 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. Richard Dawkins has written that Hamilton was "the greatest Darwinian of my lifetime". == Early life == Hamilton was born in 1936 in Cairo, Egypt, the second of seven children. His parents were from New Zealand; his father A.M. Hamilton was an engineer, and his mother Bettina Matraves Hamilton (nee Collier) was a physician. Two sisters qualified in medicine: Mary Bliss, who developed the alternating pressure mattress for the prevention of bedsores, and Janet who became a general practitioner. Another sister Margaret became a pasture scientist and brother an engineer.
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