Editing John Maynard Smith (section)

===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>