Martin A. Nowak
Professor of Mathematics and Biology
Director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics
Phone: 617-496-4737
Office: One Brattle Square, Ste. 6, Cambridge, MA 02138
Lab Website: http://www.ped.fas.harvard.edu/
Martin Nowak is fascinated by all questions of biology and regrets that he can work only on some. He initiated the field of virus dynamics which led to a quantitative understanding of HIV infection. He contributed to the long-standing problem of evolution of cooperation introducing spatial games, generous tit-for-tat, win-stay, lose-shift and indirect reciprocity. In an effort to describe the evolution of human language, he designed a mathematical approach bringing together formal linguistics, learning theory, and evolutionary dynamics. His most recent work is devoted to the somatic evolution of cancer and the role of genetic instability.
Recent Publications
Hauert C, A Traulsen, H Brandt, MA Nowak, K Sigmund, 2007. Via freedom to coercion: the emergence of costly punishment. Science 316: 1905-1907
Imhof LA, D Fudenberg, MA Nowak, 2007. Tit-for-tat or win-stay, lose-shift? J theor Biol 247: 574-580
Iwasa Y, F Michor, MA Nowak, 2007. Directional evolution of virus within a host under immune selection, in Mathematics for Life Science and Medicine, eds Y Takeuchi, Y Iwasa, K Sato. Springer: New York
Lieberman E, JB Michel, J Jackson, T Tang, MA Nowak, 2007. Quantifying the evolutionary dynamics of language. Nature (in press)
Nowak MA, S Roch (2007). Upstream reciprocity and the evolution of gratitude. Proc R Soc Ser B-Bio 274: 605-609 (Daily Telegraph review) (article in PhysOrg.com)
Courses Taught
OEB 361. Somatic Evolution of Cancer
