From Eton to Sussex, from aircraft engineer to original thinker in evolutionary biology; the life and work of John Maynard Smith, who died in April 2004, is celebrated in this special web focus. A selection of his most important research and writings from a career that spanned over 50 years is presented below and is available free.
A more detailed list featuring more than 50 years of his publications
can be found here.
1991 with Christopher Dowson and Brian Spratt. Shows how the outcome of localized genetic recombination in the bacterial genome can be detected, and what this entails for the species concept in bacteria.
The major evolutionary transitions Nature374, 227-232
1995 with E�rs Szathm�ry. A first synopsis of the landmark transitions in evolution, from the origin of life to the origins of language and of human cooperation.
Professor J. B. S. Haldane, FRS Nature206, 239-240
1965 The obituary of notice for Haldane, a powerful
influence on Maynard Smith�s career. Note how this article
from the Nature archive indicates that Maynard
Smith was paid 63 shillings for this piece. In 1998, he
also wrote the Nature obituary of Sewall Wright,
another of the great figures of twentieth-century genetics.
Evolution: The games lizards play Nature380, 198-199
1996 A typically lucid News & Views article, with Maynard Smith here discussing a report of how a newly observed animal behaviour fits in with evolutionary theory.
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John Maynard Smith (1920-2004)
