PRACTICAL ALTRUISM

See Also: CHARLES DARWIN; HOMELESSNESS

George R. Price was a gifted American scientist. During the Second World War he worked on the Manhattan Project. His unstable personality and his desire to do something of substance led to him frequently switching disciplines and employers. The one constant in his life was his use of his mathematical skills.

In 1966 he was diagnosed as having a throat tumour. He had been residing in New York City's Greenwich Village, where his lifestyle had been bohemian. The experience of mortality prompted him to alter his conduct. He moved to London. There, he developed an interest in evolution theory and the origins of the human family. University College's Genetics Department furnished him with a grant. He and the biologist W.D. Hamilton worked on how altruism could have emerged from the environment that Darwin had described. As a consequence of their work, Price devised the Price Equation. This is a mathematical description of evolution and natural selection.

Price became a Christian in 1970. His interests came to include theology. Three years later he asked his ex-wife Julia to remarry him (they had divorced in 1953). She declined to do so. Price decided to try to help down-and-outs. He moved out of his flat in Bloomsbury and into a squat in Kentish Town. He took to sleeping rough. Initially, he found his new life to be fulfilling. However, with time, he came to the view that his actions were not causing his new associates to reform their ways. He sank into depression. In 1975 he committed suicide. At his funeral, the congregation was composed of a mixture of derelicts and academics.

Location: University College, Gower Street, WC1E 6BT (purple, red)

St Pancras & Islington Cemetery, 278 High Road, East Finchley, N2 9AG. Price's corpse was placed in an unmarked grave.

David Backhouse 2024