From:    "David W. Inouye" 
Subject: obituary for W. D. Hamilton

Filed at 11:21 p.m. EST

           By The Associated Press

           LONDON (AP) -- W.D. Hamilton, who devised a widely accepted
           theory to explain the evolutionary basis of altruism, died
Tuesday of
           malaria, which he contracted in the Congo. He was 63.

           Hamilton had gone to the Congo to research the theory that the AIDS
           virus originated from polio vaccine trials conducted in Africa
in the
           1950s.

           Hamilton was best known for his theory of ``inclusive fitness,''
published
           in two papers in the Journal of Theoretical Biology in 1963 and
1964.

           He set out to solve the apparent contradiction between the
evolutionary
           principle of survival of the fittest, and the fact that
individuals sometimes
           behave in ways that benefit their kin rather than themselves.
Hamilton's
           insight was to focus on the survival of genes rather than
individuals.

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