John Maynard Smith

John Maynard Smith
Maynard Smith in 1997
Born(1920-01-06)6 January 1920
London, England
Died19 April 2004(2004-04-19) (aged 84)
Lewes, East Sussex, England
NationalityBritish
EducationTrinity College, Cambridge
University College London
Known forGame theory
Evolution of sex
Signalling theory
AwardsMendel Medal (1985)
Frink Medal (1990)
Balzan Prize (1991)
Sewall Wright Award (1995)
Linnean Medal (1995)
Royal Medal (1997)
Weldon Memorial Prize (1998)
Copley Medal (1999)
Crafoord Prize (1999)
Kyoto Prize (2001)
Linnean Society of London's Darwin–Wallace Medal – NB: awarded posthumously (2008)
Fellow of the Royal Society (1977)
Scientific career
FieldsEvolutionary biologist and geneticist
InstitutionsUniversity College London, University of Sussex
Doctoral advisorJ. B. S. Haldane
Doctoral studentsSean Nee
Andrew Pomiankowski

John Maynard Smith[a] FRS (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British theoretical and mathematical evolutionary biologist and geneticist.[1] Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he took a second degree in genetics under the biologist J. B. S. Haldane. Maynard Smith was instrumental in the application of game theory to evolution with George R. Price, and theorised on other problems such as the evolution of sex and signalling theory.


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  1. ^ Charlesworth, B.; Harvey, P. (2005). "John Maynard Smith. 6 January 1920 - 19 April 2004: Elected F.R.S. 1977". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 51 (3): 253–265. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2005.0016. PMC 1448785. PMID 15579672. S2CID 85622626.