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Martin Andreas Nowak (born April 7, 1965) (2025). 9781451626636, Free Press. ISBN 9781451626636 is an Austrian-born professor of mathematics and biology at Harvard University. He is a researcher in evolutionary dynamics with work spanning Evolution 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 even after Epstein's conviction for sex crimes.
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.
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, Evolution and Theology of Cooperation where he was also a member of their Board of Advisors. About Us : Who We Are : 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.Financier pledges $30 million to support Harvard researcher, The Associated Press, 7 February 2003 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 responded to Nowak's failure to follow Harvard policies, closed the institute founded with Epstein's money, and donated 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".
In 1990, Nowak and Robert May proposed a mathematical model which aimed to explain the delay between HIV infection and AIDS. This model was based upon 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 researched evolutionary game dynamics in finite populations. In 2005 and 2006, he wrote papers establishing evolutionary graph theory. 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.
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.
His 2024 book Beyond, is a poetic exploration of the connection between religion and science.
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