Bill Hamilton

Bill Hamilton   ( biologist)
Born	1 August 1936  Cairo,  Egypt
Died	7 March 2000 (Age 63)  London,  UK
Cause of death	" malaria"
Nationality	UK
Alma mater	•  Tonbridge School •  St John's College (Cambridge) •  London School of Economics •  University College London
Parents	Archibald Milne Hamilton
Victim of	premature death
Interests	•  Hilary Koprowski •  HIV
British evolutionary biologist who "died suddenly" after investigating the origins of HIV  Professor of Evolutionary Biology In office 1978 - 2000 Employer University of Michigan "Died suddenly" after investigating the origins of HIV  Lecturer In office 1964 - 1977 Employer Imperial College London Preceded by Hans Zetterberg

William Donald Hamilton was a British evolutionary biologist, recognised as one of the most significant evolutionary theorists of the 20th century. He "died suddenly" after starting to investigate the origins of HIV.

Activities

During the 1990s, Hamilton became interested in the hypothesis that the origin of HIV lay in Hilary Koprowski's oral polio vaccine trials in Africa during the 1950s.

CNN:Is there a possibility here scientists simply don't want to know, don't want to accept, perhaps, at least the moral, if not the legal liability for what has been done, for the AIDS virus?
Bill Hamilton: I fear what this is so, and is one of the most worrying aspects of the case. I feel it's not only the origin of AIDS that is in question here,it is the conduct of science towards this hypothesis which has been one of almost paranoid rejection, I would say. I think I would not exaggerate to describe it as medical science's worst hated hypothesis, and there seems to be a great reluctance to publish anything about it or to test any of the available evidence that could be more directly tested.

He spoke to the BBC supporting the hypothesis, and wrote the foreword of Edward Hooper's 1999 book The River. To look for evidence of the hypothesis, Hamilton went on a 2000 field trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assess natural levels of simian immunodeficiency virus in primates.

According to the Official Narrative, analyzed after his death none of the over 60 urine and faecal samples contained detectable SIV virus." This result was announced by Claudio Basilico, head of the Philadelphia-based Wistar Institute's AIDS/poliovirus advisory committee.

Death

Hamilton returned to London from Africa on 29 January 2000. He was admitted to University College Hospital, London, on 30 January 2000.

The coroner concluded that his death was due to "multi-organ failure due to upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage due to a duodenal diverticulum and arterial bleed through a mucosal ulcer". Following reports attributing his death to complications arising from malaria, the BBC Editorial Complaints Unit's investigation established that he had contracted malaria during his final African expedition. However, the pathologist had suggested the possibility that the ulceration and consequent haemorrhage had resulted from a pill (which might have been taken because of malarial symptoms) lodging in the diverticulum; but, even if this suggestion were correct, the link between malaria and the observed causes of death would be entirely indirect.

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