Martin Nowak

Template:Short description Martin Andreas Nowak (born April 7, 1965) is an Austrian-born professor of mathematics and biology at Harvard University. He is a researcher in evolutionary dynamics and has made contributions to the fields of evolutionary theory and viral dynamics.

He held faculty positions at Oxford University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, before being recruited by Harvard in 2003. During this time, Jeffrey Epstein funded a portion of Nowak's work, helping to set up a center for studying cooperation in evolution. He was the director of Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics (PED) from 2003 until 2020. He was suspended from supervising undergraduate research for two years, and his institute was permanently closed due to Epstein’s continued use of a personal office in the PED building for over ten years after his conviction for sex crimes.

Early life and education

Nowak was born in Vienna, Austria, on April 7, 1965. He studied at Albertus Magnus Gymnasium in Vienna and the University of Vienna, where he earned a doctorate in biochemistry and mathematics in 1989. During his studies, he collaborated with Peter Schuster on quasispecies theory and with Karl Sigmund on evolution of cooperation. Nowak received the highest Austrian honors (Sub auspiciis Praesidentis) upon receiving his degree.

In 1993, he completed his habilitation at the Institute of Mathematics, University of Vienna. Later, in 2001, Nowak was elected as a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Career

From 1989 to 1998, Nowak worked at the University of Oxford with Robert May. First, he was an Erwin Schrödinger Postdoctoral Scholar, then a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College and Keble College. From 1992, he was a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. Nowak served as a professor of mathematical biology from 1997 to 1998.

In 1998, Martin Nowak was recruited by the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and remained the Head of the Institute's first Initiative in Theoretical Biology from 1998 until 2003. In 2003, Nowak joined Harvard University as a Professor of Mathematics and Biology. Nowak was also co-director, with Sarah Coakley, of the Evolution and Theology of Cooperation project at Harvard University, sponsored by the Templeton Foundation, where he was also a member of their Board of Advisors. He was appointed Director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics (PED). The PED was funded with a large sum of money from the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation. In 2003, Epstein had introduced himself as a science philanthropist, cementing the initial interaction with a large donation to Harvard. Nowak's team had received US $6.5 million between 2003 and 2006, but they did not receive any additional funds after 2007.

After Epstein's 2008 conviction, Harvard president Drew Faust decided that the university would no longer accept his donations. A report, commissioned by the university, found that Nowak allowed Epstein to visit the PED offices more than 40 times after his conviction, to maintain an office with a phone line and webpage, and to interact with students at PED. In 2020, the university placed Nowak on paid academic leave for violation of campus policies including professional conduct and campus access. In 2021, Harvard decided on a proportionate response to the severity of Nowak's failure to follow Harvard policies, closing the institute founded with Epstein's money, and donating the remaining money to a foundation helping victims of sexual assault. Harvard also imposed a two-year ban on Nowak that barred him from supervising undergraduate research or further supervising new graduate students or postdoctoral fellows. He was also banned from acting as the principal investigator of new grants. Nowak said he would "take the lessons from this time with me as I move forward". The sanctions against Nowak were lifted in 2023.

Academic research

Martin Nowak contributed to various scientific disciplines, including evolutionary game theory, virology, cancer dynamics, the evolution of cooperation, and the origins of language. Throughout his career, Nowak has collaborated with scientists such as Robert May, Karl Sigmund, and John Maynard Smith.

Nowak has authored books and scientific papers on topics in evolutionary game theory, cancer, viruses, infectious disease, the evolution of language, and the evolution of cooperation. At Oxford, he helped to establish the fields of virus dynamics and spatial games (which later became evolutionary graph theory). He maintained a collaboration with Karl Sigmund in game theory. He collaborated with John Maynard Smith on genetic redundancy, with Baruch Blumberg on hepatitis B virus, and with Robert May as well as George Shaw and Andrew McMichael on HIV.

In 1990, Nowak and Robert May proposed a mathematical model which aimed to explain the delay between HIV infection and AIDS. In terms of the evolution of different strains of the virus during individual infections, to the point where the genetic diversity of the virus reaches a threshold whereby the immune system can no longer control it.

At Harvard, Nowak continued his work on virus dynamics, cancer dynamics, and evolutionary game theory. In 2004, he established evolutionary game dynamics in finite populations. In 2005 and 2006, he wrote papers establishing evolutionary graph theory. In 2006, he suggested that cooperation was a third fundamental principle of evolution beside mutation and selection. In 2007, he proposed a theory for the origin of life that views it through competition with its chemical precursors. In a 2008 paper, he suggested that punishment behavior does not encourage the evolution of cooperation, and describes that behavior as maladaptive.

In 2006, Nowak enunciated and unified the mathematical rules for the five understood bases of the evolution of cooperation (kin selection, direct reciprocity, indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection) which he published as a paper in Science. Nowak suggests that evolution is constructive because of cooperation, and that scientists might add “natural cooperation” as a third fundamental principle of evolution beside mutation and natural selection.

In 2007, Nowak and colleagues demonstrated that the transition of irregular verbs to regular verbs in English over time obeys a simple inverse-square law, thus providing one of the first quantitative laws in the evolution of language. This demonstration was featured on the front cover of Nature.

In 2010, Nowak, with E. O. Wilson, and Corina Tarnita, in Nature, argued that standard natural selection theory represents a simpler and superior approach to kin selection theory in the evolution of eusociality. This work has led to many comments including strong criticism from proponents of inclusive fitness theory. Nowak maintains that the findings of the paper are conclusive and that the field of social evolution should move beyond inclusive fitness theory.

He has over 300 scientific publications, of which 40 are in Nature and 15 in Science.

Published books

Aside from his scientific career, Nowak has also authored five books. His 2006 work Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equation of Life received praise for its perspective on theoretical biology and won the R.R. Hawkins Award. In 2011, he co-authored SuperCooperators, also authored by Roger Highfield which argues for cooperation as a fundamental principle of evolution and garnered positive reviews. Additionally, Nowak has edited books, including Evolution, Games, and God, which examines the relationship between theology and evolutionary theory. Nowak identifies himself as a Roman Catholic, advocating for the compatibility of science and religion in the pursuit of truth. His 2024 book, Beyond, is a poetic exploration of the connection between religion and science. In 2015, he received the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters from the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology at Berkeley.

Nowak's first book Virus Dynamics: Mathematical Principles of Immunology and Virology, written with Robert May, was published by Oxford University Press in 2001. Nowak's 2006 book Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life discusses the evolution of various biological processes. Reviewing Evolutionary Dynamics in Nature, Sean Nee called it a "unique book" that "should be on the shelf of anyone who has, or thinks they might have, an interest in theoretical biology." The book received the Association of American Publishers' R.R. Hawkins Award for the Outstanding Professional, Reference or Scholarly Work of 2006.

Nowak's book SuperCooperators: The Mathematics of Evolution, Altruism and Human Behaviour (Or, Why We Need Each Other to Succeed), co-authored with Roger Highfield, was published in 2011. SuperCooperators is an autobiography of Nowak and a presentation of his work in mathematical biology on the evolution of cooperation, the origin of life, and the evolution of language. In the book, Nowak argues that cooperation is the third fundamental principle of evolution, next to mutation and natural selection. SuperCooperators received positive reviews in The New York Times, Nature, and the Financial Times.

With Sarah Coakley, Nowak edited the 2013 book Evolution, Games, and God: The Principle of Cooperation, published by Harvard University Press. The volume features articles from experts in multiple fields who explore the interplay between theology and evolutionary theory as pertaining to cooperation and altruism.

Awards

Nowak is a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He won the Weldon Memorial Prize, the Albert Wander Prize, the Akira Okubo Prize, the David Starr Jordan Prize and the Henry Dale Prize.

Personal life

Nowak is a Roman Catholic. In a 2007 lecture at Harvard, he argued that science and religion occupied different but complementary roles in humans' search for meaning, stating: "Science and religion are two essential components in the search for truth. Denying either is a barren approach."

External links

• Martin Nowak: Extended film interview with transcript for the 'Why Are We Here?' documentary series.