Hamilton, William Donald (1936-2000), was a British biologist famous for his work on the theory of evolution. Hamilton advanced evolutionary theory using genetics (the study of heredity) and animal behavior studies. His major contribution has become known as the idea of inclusive fitness or kin selection. According to this idea, individual organisms can ensure the survival of their own genes (hereditary material) by behaving selflessly toward close relatives other than their offspring. For example, worker ants in an ant colony do not breed, but they help raise the offspring of the colony’s queen ant, to which they are all closely related. Such closely related animals have many of the same genes. Thus, Hamilton concluded, selfless behavior toward relatives helps ensure that the worker ants pass on their own genes from one generation to another.
Hamilton was born on Aug. 1, 1936, in Cairo, Egypt. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1960 and earned a Ph.D. degree in genetics from the University of London in 1968. Hamilton taught genetics and evolutionary biology at the University of London, the University of Michigan, and Oxford University. His most important scientific writings include “The Genetical Evolution of Social Behavior” (1964), “Extraordinary Sex Ratios” (1967), and “Altruism and Related Phenomena Mainly in Social Insects” (1972). Hamilton died in Oxford on March 7, 2000.
See also Altruism ; Ethology ; Group selection ; Kin selection ; Sociobiology .
