Robert Trivers
Scientist · Professor
Robert Trivers was an American evolutionary scientist and professor whose theories of reciprocal altruism, parental investment and parent-offspring conflict became foundational to the study of social evolution. In 2007, he received the Crafoord Prize in Biosciences for his analysis of social evolution, conflict and cooperation. [2][3]
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Career and work
Trivers earned a PhD in biology from Harvard University and later taught at Harvard, the University of California, Santa Cruz and Rutgers University. His work helped establish major theories in evolutionary biology, including reciprocal altruism, parental investment and parent-offspring conflict. [2][1]
In 2007, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded him the Crafoord Prize in Biosciences for his fundamental analysis of social evolution, conflict and cooperation. [3]
What has been publicly discussed
“After that, the breakdowns were uniformly bad.”
— Robert Trivers [5]
