The Evolution of Social Behavior is a 1964 scientific paper by the British evolutionary biologist W.D. Hamilton in which he lays out a kin selection. It appeared in the Journal of Theoretical Biology in two parts volume 1, pages 295–311. 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... In scientific publishing, a paper is a scientific article that is published in a scientific journal. ... Evolutionary biology is a subfield of biology concerned with the origin and descent of species, as well as their change over time, i. ... This article is about the British biologist Bill Hamilton. ... Kin selection was first suggested by Darwin as an explanation of the sterile castes of social insects and has later been mathematically defined by W. D. Hamilton as a mechanism for the evolution of apparently altruistic acts. ... The Journal of Theoretical Biology is a scientific journal dealing with all mathematical and computational aspects of biology. ...

Hamilton, then only a PhD student, completed his work in London. It was based on Haldane's idea, but Hamilton showed that applied to all gene frequencies. Although initially obscure, it is now obligotorally cited in biology books.

The paper's peer review process lead to disharmony between one of the reviewers, John Maynard Smith and Hamilton. Hamilton thought that Maynard Smith had deliberately kept the paper from publication so that Maynard Smith could claim credit for the concept of kin selection. Peer review (known as refereeing in some academic fields) is a scholarly process used in the publication of manuscripts and in the awarding of funding for research. ... John Maynard Smith Professor John Maynard Smith1, F.R.S. (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British evolutionary biologist and geneticist. ...

The American George R. Price found Hamilton's paper, and finding trouble in its implications for sociobiology, tried to disprove it but ended up rederiving his work through the Price equation. Other persons have been called George Price George R. Price (1922 - January 6, 1975) was a American physical chemist and later a science journalist. ... Sociobiology is a branch of biology and also sociology that attempts to throw light upon behavior in both human and non-human societies in terms of evolutionary advantage or strategy. ... The Price equation (also known as Prices equation) is a covariance equation which is a mathematical description of evolution and natural selection. ...

References

• W.D. Hamilton Narrow Roads of Gene Land: The Collected Papers of W. D. Hamilton: Evolution of Social Behaviour, Vol. 1 ISBN 0-71-674530-5. Narrow Roads of Gene Land: Evolution of Sex, Vol 2 of Narrow Roads of Gene Land ISBN 0-19-850336-9
• George C. Williams (ed) Group Selection ISBN 0-20-204009-7

External links

• The genetic evolution of social behavior: bibliographical excerpts (http://www.serpentfd.org/a/hamilton1964.html)