Editing John Maynard Smith (section)

===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.