Editing John Maynard Smith (section)

==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]]. Quite unhappy with the lack of formal science education at [[Eton College]], Maynard Smith took it upon himself to develop an interest in [[Darwinism|Darwinian evolutionary theory]] and mathematics, after having read the work of old Etonian [[J. B. S. Haldane]], whose books were in the school's library despite the bad reputation Haldane had at Eton for his communism. He became an atheist at age 14.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://humanism.org.uk/humanism/the-humanist-tradition/20th-century-humanism/john-maynard-smith/ |title=John Maynard Smith |publisher=British Humanist Association |access-date=24 March 2017 |archive-date=27 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127073157/https://humanism.org.uk/humanism/the-humanist-tradition/20th-century-humanism/john-maynard-smith/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On leaving school, Maynard Smith joined the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] and started studying engineering at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]].<ref name="Michod">{{cite journal |last1=Michod |first1=Richard E. |title=John Maynard Smith |journal=Annual Review of Genetics |date=1 December 2005 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1146/annurev.genet.39.040505.114723 |pmid=16285849 |url=https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.genet.39.040505.114723 |access-date=27 February 2023 |language=en |issn=0066-4197}}</ref> 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 [[Bachelor of Engineering|engineering degree]], which he did in 1941. He later quipped that "under the circumstances, my poor eyesight was a selective advantage—it stopped me getting shot". The year of his graduation, he married Sheila Matthew, and they later had two sons and one daughter (Tony, Carol, and [[Julian Maynard Smith|Julian]]). 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",<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Charlesworth|first=Brian|date=2004-11-01|title=John Maynard Smith|journal=Genetics|volume=168|issue=3|pages=1105–1109|doi=10.1093/genetics/168.3.1105|issn=0016-6731|pmc=1448785|pmid=15579672}}</ref> then took a change of career, entering [[University College London]] to study [[Drosophila subobscura|fruit fly]] genetics under Haldane.<ref name="Michod"/> 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<ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Charlesworth | first1 = B. 
| author-link = Brian Charlesworth
| title = Anecdotal, historical and critical commentaries on genetics. John Maynard Smith: January 6, 1920–April 19, 2004 
| journal = Genetics 
| volume = 168 
| issue = 3 
| pages = 1105–1109 
| year = 2004 
| doi = 10.1093/genetics/168.3.1105 
| pmid = 15579672 
| pmc = 1448785
}}</ref> like many other intellectuals, after the [[Soviet Union]] brutally suppressed the [[1956 Hungarian Revolution|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.<ref>{{cite book|title=Defenders of the Truth|author=Ullica Segerstrale|year=2000}}</ref>

===University of Sussex===
In 1962 he was one of the founding members of the [[University of Sussex]] and was a dean between 1965 and 1985. He subsequently became a [[professor emeritus]]. 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]],<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Nanjundiah | first1 = V. | title = John Maynard Smith (1920–2004) | doi = 10.1007/BF02837646 | journal = Resonance | volume = 10 | issue = 11 | pages = 70–78 | year = 2005 | s2cid = 82303195 | url = http://www.ias.ac.in/resonance/Nov2005/pdf/Nov2005p70-78.pdf | access-date = 1 September 2015 | archive-date = 10 April 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190410144855/https://www.ias.ac.in/resonance/Nov2005/pdf/Nov2005p70-78.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref> based on a verbal argument by [[George R. Price]]. This area of research culminated in his 1982 book ''[[Evolution and the Theory of Games]]''. The [[Hawk-Dove game]] is arguably his single most influential game theoretical model.

He was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1977. 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 "[[Evolution of sex#Two-fold cost of sex|two-fold cost of sex]]". During the late 1980s he also became interested in [[Evolutionary transition in individuality (ETI)|evolutionary transitions in individuality (ETIs)]] and worked with the evolutionary biologist [[Eörs Szathmáry]].<ref name="Michod"/> 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.<ref name="Sterelny">{{cite book | last = Sterelny | first = Kim | author-link = Kim Sterelny| title= Dawkins vs. Gould: Survival of the Fittest| year=2007 | publisher=Icon Books| location = Cambridge, U.K. |isbn=978-1-84046-780-2}} Also {{ISBN|978-1-84046-780-2}}</ref><ref name="evolutionthe1st4billionyears">{{cite book | title=Evolution: The First Four Billion Years | last=Benton | first=Michael | author-link=Michael J. Benton | chapter=Paleontology and the History of Life |editor=Michael Ruse |editor2=Joseph Travis | year=2009 | publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | isbn=978-0-674-03175-3 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/evolutionfirstfo00mich/page/80 80–104] | chapter-url-access=registration | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionfirstfo00mich/page/80 }}</ref> 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. Williams (biologist)|George C. Williams]]. 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 (biologist)|David Harper]], on [[signalling theory]] was published in 2003.<ref name="Michod"/>

===Death===
He died on 19 April 2004 sitting in a chair at home, surrounded by books. He was survived by his wife Sheila and their children.

=== Controversy ===
Another evolutionary biologist, [[W. D. Hamilton|William Donald Hamilton]], harboured a grievance against Maynard Smith for his handling of an article that Hamilton submitted to ''The Journal of Theoretical Biology'' in 1963, which was eventually published as two papers in July 1964.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Segerstråle|first=Ullica Christina Olofsdotter|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/826131713|title=Nature's oracle : the life and work of W.D. Hamilton|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-164276-0|location=Oxford|oclc=826131713}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite thesis |title=John Maynard Smith and the Fact(s) of Evolution. A Study of Scientific Working Life in Post War Britain. |url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/25695/ |publisher=University of Leeds |date=July 2019 |degree=phd |language=en |first=Helen |last=Piel |access-date=7 April 2023 |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407150118/https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/25695/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Maynard Smith acted as a reviewer of the paper after two other reviewers had been unable to understand it, and requested that Hamilton revise it into two parts due to concerns about its accessibility, later describing it as "deeply obscure".<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Citation |title=John Maynard Smith - Bill Hamilton (36/102) |date=15 March 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ0xkf0kAxg |access-date=2023-04-07 |language=en |archive-date=21 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421203158/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ0xkf0kAxg |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 1964, Maynard Smith published the article "Group Selection and Kin selection" in ''Nature'', which covered concepts from Hamilton's article.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=J. Maynard |date=March 1964 |title=Group Selection and Kin Selection |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/2011145a0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=201 |issue=4924 |pages=1145–1147 |doi=10.1038/2011145a0 |bibcode=1964Natur.201.1145S |s2cid=4177102 |issn=1476-4687 |access-date=7 April 2023 |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407150115/https://www.nature.com/articles/2011145a0 |url-status=live }}</ref> Although Maynard Smith cited an earlier paper by Hamilton published in the ''American Naturalist'', Hamilton felt Maynard Smith had not given him sufficient credit.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Hamilton also objected to an anecdote included by Maynard Smith in a review published in the ''New Scientist'' in 1976 which implied Maynard Smith's mentor Haldane had understood the concept of Hamilton's inclusive fitness in the 1950s.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> Hamilton replied to the review suggesting that the anecdote was false, but later apologised to Maynard Smith for having doubted it''.''<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />