John Maynard Smith Dies at 84

Any college text book on evolutionary theory cites more papers by Dr. John Maynard Smith, then just about anybody else. Mentored by Dr. J.B.S. Haldane, one of the founders of the modern synthesis, John Maynard Smith invented mathmatical models in which evolution could be played out. He published a large number of books, covering topics, as diverse as evolutionary rates, sexual selection and evolutionary genetics. His obiturary can be read here. I was happy to see that in an interview in 2000, he stated "Possibly most influential in making me interested in genetics and in evolution was a strange book by a man called Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men." If you have not read Olaf Stapledon's classic 1930's science fiction novel, you should.