Martin Nowak

Martin Andreas Nowak (born April 7, 1965)^[2][3] is an Austrian-born professor of mathematics and biology at Harvard University. He is a researcher known for his work in evolutionary dynamics, focusing on evolutionary theory and viral dynamics^[3] and was one of the primary recipients of funding from Jeffrey Epstein on the Harvard faculty.^[4][5]

Martin Nowak
Nowak at Harvard in 2014
Born	Martin Andreas Nowak (1965-04-07) April 7, 1965 (age 60) Vienna, Austria
Nationality	Austrian
Alma mater	University of Vienna (PhD)
Known for	Evolution of cooperation, Evolutionary dynamics, Somatic evolution in cancer, Viral dynamics, Language evolution
Awards	Weldon Memorial Prize Albert Wander Prize
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematical biology
Institutions	Harvard University Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry University of Oxford Princeton University Institute for Advanced Study
Thesis	Stochastic strategies in the prisoner's dilemma (1989)
Doctoral advisor	Karl Sigmund
Doctoral students	David G. Rand Erez Lieberman Aiden[1] Marc Lipsitch Sebastian Bonhoeffer Franziska Michor
Website	www.martinnowak.com

Nowak held faculty positions at Oxford University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, before beginning a post at Harvard in July 2003. Around the same time as his hire, Jeffrey Epstein pledged $30 million to fund Nowak's work, helping to set up a center for studying cooperation in evolution.^[5] The same year, Nowak contributed several pages to Jeffrey Epstein's birthday book, referring to an "Epstein Institute" at Harvard.^[6][7] Ultimately, Harvard received $9.1 million in donations in total from Epstein, at least $6.5 million of which was earmarked for Nowak.^[8]

In response to the revelations of Epstein's support of Nowak and his lab (the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics), Nowak was suspended from supervising undergraduate research for two years, and the institute was permanently closed.^[9][10] Harvard's review, leading to the suspension, uncovered that Epstein had maintained access to a personal office in Nowak's lab for 9 years, even after his conviction for sex crimes, and used the office over 40 times, "typically accompanied by young women serving as his assistants".^[11]

In 2023, Harvard lifted the sanctions against Nowak and he remains on the faculty, jointly appointed in the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.^[12]

Early life and education

Nowak was born in Vienna, Austria, on April 7, 1965.^[3] He studied at the 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 the evolution of cooperation.^[13] Nowak received the Sub auspiciis Praesidentis award upon completing his doctorate at the University of Vienna.^[14][15]

Career

In 1989, Nowak worked at the University of Oxford with Robert May as an Erwin Schrödinger Postdoctoral Scholar. He later became a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College and then Keble College. In 1992, he became a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Biomedical Science^[16] before becoming a Professor of Mathematical Biology in 1997.^[17]

In 1998, Nowak was recruited by the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton as the Head of the Institute's first Initiative in Theoretical Biology until 2003.^[18] In 2003, Nowak joined Harvard University as a Professor of Mathematics and Biology.^[15] Nowak was also a co-director, with Sarah Coakley, of the Evolution and Theology of Cooperation project at Harvard University, sponsored by the Templeton Foundation,^[19] where he was also a member of their Board of Advisors.^[20]

Nowak's research focuses on evolutionary game theory, cancer, viruses, infectious disease, the evolution of language and the evolution of cooperation.^{[21][22][23][24][25][26]} At Oxford, he helped to establish the fields of virus dynamics^[27] and spatial games^[28] (which later became evolutionary graph theory). He has collaborated with John Maynard Smith on genetic redundancy,^[29] Baruch Blumberg on the hepatitis B virus,^[16] Karl Sigmund on game theory,^[17] and with George Shaw and Andrew McMichael on HIV.^[30][31][32]

He has published several books on evolutionary dynamics,^[33][34] the evolution of cooperation,^[35][36] and religion.^[37]

Personal life

Nowak is a Roman Catholic.^[38] 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."^[39]