Profile of Brian Charlesworth

Abstract

National Academy of Sciences foreign associate Brian Charlesworth has been at the forefront of evolutionary genetics research for the last four decades. Using theoretical ideas to design experiments and experimental data as a stimulant for the development of theory, Charlesworth investigates fundamental life processes. His work has contributed to improved understanding of molecular evolution and variation, the evolution of genetic and sexual systems, and the evolutionary genetics of life history traits. In 2010, Charlesworth retired from his faculty position as professor at the University of Edinburgh’s Institute of Evolutionary Biology but actively continues to inspire students and conduct research. Profile photograph of Brian Charlesworth. Image courtesy of Xulio Maside. Until age 8, Charlesworth lived near the English seaside in Hove, East Sussex. There, he explored marine life in rockpools, studied snails collected from a bombsite, admired a giant tortoise that lived in a garden behind his apartment, and went on walks with his parents in the Sussex countryside. His family later moved to London, but Charlesworth’s interest in nature remained. At age 11, he entered the private Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School, which he attended on a local government scholarship. “It had well-equipped labs and some very good teachers,” Charlesworth says. He read extensively, visited London museums, and attended public lectures at University College London. His early role models were physics and biology teacher Theodore Savory and biology teacher Barry Goater. He says, “The notion of discovering how the natural world works, purely from observation and reasoning, thrilled me from an early age and continues to do so.” In 1966, Charlesworth earned a BA in natural sciences with honors at the University of Cambridge. During his final year at the university, he studied genetics and soon became interested in evolution and the application of mathematics to evolutionary genetics. “I met …