Add MS 84115

1. Letter (1 f), with airmail envelope from R. C. Lewontin, Harvard University (13 March 1974) to Price at University College, London: 'I am sorry that I did not get to see you when I was in England last year. It has taken me a long time to come around to understanding the work you have been doing, which I was too stupid to appreciate when you first showed it to me.' The letter indicates that Lewontin sent under separate cover a copy of a paper requested by Price. Richard Lewontin (b 1929), population geneticist.

2. Correspondence between Hugh Ross and George Price of 1A Little Titchfield Street, London W1P 7FG. Dates of correspondence: 1 July 1971-17 March 1972. ?Hugh McGregor Ross (b 1917), early computer pioneer who contributed to the Universal Character Set; a Quaker and an authority on the Gospel of St Thomas. The series of letters includes discussion of Price’s research into the Passion schedule, 'and the exact hour, day, and year of the Crucifixion', and refers to a document written by Price on the subject, ca 50 pages (in the British Library W. D. Hamilton Archive).

2.1. Letter, carbon copy typescript (1 f) from Price to Ross, 17 March 1972. Mentions Bill Vitek’s group at IBM and a short letter by GRP published in the January 28th issue of the periodical Science. Price suggests that the Apostles and other early Christians kept many things secret 'about Our Lord'. The letter outlines Price’s attempts to ascertain the exact date of the Nativity.

2.2. Letter, blue ballpoint pen (1 f), from Ross to Price, 9 December 1971 (annotated 'Received Dec. 31, Postmarked Dec. 28?'): 'I am always surprised how accurate the Bible seems to be, overall, when other evidence is found'. Attended the Hayden Planetarium the previous year, and received an account of the condition of the sky around the time of the birth of Jesus Christ. Indicates that he is still working for IBM, currently in Programming Systems.

2.3. Letter, carbon copy typescript (1 f) from Price to Ross, 15 November 1971. Indicates that he is enclosing a one page summary of his 50 page paper, stating: 'thus far no one has shown me a single way in which this 12-day schedule disagrees with anything said anywhere in the Bible'. 'Thank you again for your help picking out that blue Pontiac. It really was a sensational bargain'. Mentions Professor Rhine. ?Joseph Banks Rhine (1895-1980) parapsychologist.

2.4. Letter, carbon copy typescript (1 f) from Price to Ross, 21 September 1971. Explains that he is researching the mathematics of evolutionary selection, but admits to finding more interesting his study of Bible exegesis conducted in his spare time. Refers to his 'second "burning bush"'.

2.5. Letter (carbon copy typescript, 1 f), from Price to Ross, 1 July 1971. Partly blames the British Post Office strike for long delay in writing to Ross. Reports that after a lifelong atheism he became a Christian in June 1970. Discusses ESP in relation to his conversion from atheism to Christianity (note that he published a paper in Science on Extrasensory Perception; see Add MS 84116, item 4.) Price asks what Hugh Ross is doing in Wappingers Falls, a place in New York State (near Poughkeepsie, location of one of IBM’s laboratories). The letter ends with a postscript in handwriting but still carbon copy stating 'I saw Fred Brooks and family here in London last summer…'. ?Fred Brooks (b 1931), software engineer, computer scientist, and manager of System/360 and OS/360; originator of Brooks’ Law.

3. Letter, carbon copy typescript to Dr Heinrich Kluver, University of Chicago, 8 July 1967, (2 ff) from George Price (unsigned), 297 Clinton Avenue, Kingston, New York 12401, seeking advice about where to go to undertake some writing, somewhere with 'a good library with privileges (stack access, borrowing, interlibrary loan) at faculty level or equivalent'. Refers to an enclosed letter (not in the Price Papers) to Dr Ingle explaining his interest in evolutionary topics (this being some months before his move to the UK). Rules out the possibility of going to Chicago because of the risk of running into Ferguson (the surgeon responsible for an operation on Price that left his shoulder partially paralysed). Mentions Skinner of Minnesota. ?B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) animal behaviourist and psychologist in USA; described operant conditioning. ?Heinrich Kluver (1897-1979) physiological psychologist and neuroanatomist in Germany and USA. ?Dwight J. Ingle, editor of the journal Perspectives in Biology and Medicine.

4. Letter, typescript with signature in blue ballpoint (1 f) from F. C. Schneider, IBM Advanced Systems Development Division, 182 North Hamilton Street, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1 April 1960, to George Price of 88 Bedford Street, New York, NY, raising the possibility of employing Price at IBM. Mentions Price’s articles in the publication THINK, and expresses particular interest in 'the work you did on the design computer article'. 'I would be very much interested in hearing of your activities since we left Kingston'. THINK is an internal magazine at IBM. GRP was indeed later employed by IBM.

5. Correspondence between Ludwig [ ] and George Price (1969-1971).

5.1. Letter (1 f) from Price, London, 22 July 1969. The letter reports the death of his 85 year old mother, months after an operation to amputate her leg, and his visit to New York for some months. Apologises for not writing while in the USA: 'But things kept getting more and more hectic, with an incredible situation in connection with my mother’s huge apartment, with a lifetime of accumulated papers and bric-a-brac, including papers of all her close family members who had died…'. Discusses financial and intellectual difficulties, including struggle with the mathematics of his ‘Selection’ paper.

5.2. Letter (1 f) from Price, 8 May 1970. Discusses attempts to get articles published in Science and Nature and impact on social life. 'Please give my very best wishes to Anne…'. '(After talking with you, I reread the reprint of your Ph.D. thesis. It was indeed ingenious and simple.)'.

5.3. Letter (1 f) from Price, 1A Little Titchfield Street, London W1P 7FG, 8 August 1971. Discusses Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection. '(Of all published scientific or mathematical writing that I have ever read, I think what Fisher wrote on his theorem is by far the most confusingly expressed. It is fantastic all the different ways that he mixed things up. And yet in much of his work he could write it with remarkable clarity, so that in some places I feel envy at the way he expresses a complex mathematical idea with precision in one brief sentence.) This is Sir Ronald A. Fisher, whom you have probably heard more about as a statistician than as a geneticist'. 'Also, I’ve developed a considerable interest in solving puzzles about Bible interpretation. It is possible that this involves some of the same abilities as are needed for interpreting what Fisher wrote on his theorem'.

6. Typescript letter (2 ff) from W. Shockley of Stanford Electronics Laboratories, Stanford, California 94305, 7 November 1972, to Professor C. A. B. Smith, Galton Laboratory, University College London, Wolfson House, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HE, discussing constructive suggestions made by George Price, signed by Shockley, black ballpoint. 'In a sense your absence was fortunate for me because I happened to connect with George Price. My conversation with him was one of the most useful and constructive that I have had on these matters, although I did not appreciate it at the time.' Mentions a publication by Reed in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Details a list of items enclosed with the letter. William Shockley (1910-1989) British-born Nobel Laureate, co-inventor of transistor. Cedric A. B. Smith (1917-2002), statistician and geneticist; a Quaker.

7. Typescript letter (2 ff) from George Price, 19 Tolmers Square, London NW1 2PE, 27 August 1974, to CPL Recruitment Division, 14 Old Park Lane, London W1Y 4NI, signed by Price, black ballpoint. Indicates his intention to seek a research appointment at MIT in order to follow up on economics ideas that came out of optimisation work with IBM. Explains that his desire for a temporary rather than a permanent position is in part due to his wish to marry someone. 'Of course this would prevent my being put in charge of any long-term project. But I think I could be almost immediately useful for coding work and also as a source of ideas. In this connection it is worth mentioning that IBM employed me as a consultant to contribute ideas on computer graphics…'.

8. Letter from Cedric Smith (C. A. B. Smith), handwritten, black ballpoint, in distinctive hand (1 f), The Galton Laboratory, Department of Human Genetics and Biometry, University College London, Wolfson House, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1, 29 January 1973, to George Price. 'I talked this morning for about ½ hour with Dr James at the MRC. Essentially, what came out of the discussion was that we needed to be more definite and explicit about what we expect to do'. (See Add MS 84119, item 8.)

9. Letter, typescript carbon copy (1 f) from George Price, 26 March 1972, to C. A. B. Smith. Explains to Cedric Smith that he is unwell possibly due to a low-grade staphyloccal infection, and cannot make an appointment that concerns a report to the Science Research Council. 'It is wiser to assume that I will not have a new grant as of July 1st and will have to live on other resources for a couple of months, and take things at a slightly slower but more efficient pace instead of trying frantically to get papers finished as quickly as possible'.

10. Letter (typescript, 1 f) from Law Offices of William R. Liberman, 551 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, New York, 25 July 1957, refers to a possible patent application by George Price, 204 Fair Street, Kingston, New York.

11. CV of George Price (carbon copy, 1 f) 1A Little Titchfield Street, London W1P 7FG at age 45 years.

12. Letter, photocopy (1 f) from George Price, 30 May 1973, Galton Laboratory, 4 Stephenson Way, London, to Bill (W. D. Hamilton). Informs WDH that the Medical Research Council has given GRP a 1-year grant. 'Last February I sort of "encountered" Jesus and found out that I had never been a Christian at all but a Christian-Pharisee and one of the world’s best hypocrites. Now I’m trying to become a Christian'. Indicates that as a result he feels that he ought to give up the book (based on his study of the Passion of Jesus Christ) since the ‘true’ date of Easter does not matter. 'What matters is when people observe Easter'. The letter concludes by warmly expressing the wish to see WDH and his family again.

13. Letter (photocopy, incomplete, 2 ff) from George Price, 5 March 1974, 'Hideaway N° 12', London, to Bill (W. D. Hamilton). '…now finally I’m again in a place where it should be possible to get some work done. Address (to be kept secret): 45 Gordon Mansions, Huntley Street, Torrington Place, W. C. 1.' 'And since it’s the beginning of the month, and because of your hospitality last month, there’s money enough to pay the rent. So maybe there will yet be some results for the MRC.' (The final 1-year research project funded by the Medical Research Council.) Mentions some computer runs studying sexual selection in small populations.

14. Letter with reprint article, both photocopied: letter from Richard Borowsky, New York University, 9 December 1973, to Professor John Maynard Smith, University of Sussex; article entitled ‘Relative size and development of fin coloration in Xiphophorus variatus’, published in Physiological Journal, 1973. John Maynard Smith (1920-2004) evolutionary biologist. Richard L. Borowsky, evolutionary biologist.

15. Letter (typescript carbon copy, 2 ff) from George Price, 29 June 1971, to Bill (W. D. Hamilton). Price challenges WDH to work out the Passion schedule (under the rule of agreeing with the Gospels) and produce a different solution from Price. '…the main reason for the challenge is that I think that if you try this you will discover that more than human intelligence has gone into the composition of the Gospels. There is an extraordinary concealment cipher there that has remained largely unread for 18+ centuries'. Suggests that, in view of WDH’s open mind, he should examine this matter. 'You’ve looked at Schonfield, Beckett, and Housman on the subject; now try taking a more careful look at the primary sources'. Hugh J. Schonfield, bible scholar (1901-1988), Samuel Beckett, writer (1906-1989), and A. E. Housman, poet (1859-1936).

16. Card folder, containing three items.

16.1. Photocopy of first page of article by George Price entitled ‘Extension of covariance selection mathematics’.

16.2. Original typescript draft of account, incomplete (2 ff) entitled ‘Modification of a computer program of Ewens for testing genetic polymorphism data for selection, with results on 28 loci’, George Price, with annotations.

16.3. Carbon copy of same typescript draft of account, incomplete (2 ff) also with annotations.

17. Letter, photocopy, from George Price, 18 May 1974 (1 f) to Bill (W. D. Hamilton). 'Dear Bill, Last Monday night I crawled out of hiding and went to Wolfson House to collect mail for the past 7 weeks or so'. Explains that he has used a lot of Hamilton’s allocated computer time for genetic polymorphism rather than for sexual selection analyses. 'I hope the sexual selection program will be working ok by the end of this month. How would that fit in with your plans? Incidentally, computing using the UL system probably goes better the farther you get away from the computer'. Asks WDH to thank Janet for her letter. ?Janet Hamilton, sister of WDH.

18. Letter, photocopy, from George Price, 21 August [1974], 19 Tolmers Square, London (3 ff) to Bill (W. D. Hamilton). 'I’ve given up in finishing genetic polymorphism. Harris, for reasons that I’m not certain about, is not interested in having me finish. Cedric is, but I think there are too many difficulties in the way of finishing it if Harris does not support it'. Indicates that following the end of the MRC grant, he has worked as a night office cleaner (14 June – 16 August 1974), mostly in a building of National Westminster Bank at Moorgate. 'I was slow but dependable and my supervisor was sorry to have me leave. I thought it was about (?) the first honest work I’d done in my life – working for others rather than for my own amusement or advance'. 'I believe a new phase has started in my life (about 3 months ago) when Jesus wants me to do less about helping others and give more attention to sorting out my own problems…'. Mentions someone in London he would like to marry, Sylvia (from Colorado). Indicates that he would like to work with WDH on another project such as inclusive fitness, nepotism, 'now I’m finally a bit straightened out about what you were saying in your paper'; but feels that the originally agreed examination of sexual selection is too large a programming task at a time when he is leaving genetics. At the end of the letter Price asks after various members of WDH’s family by name. Harry Harris (1919-1994), human geneticist; as Head of the Department, signs with C. A. B. Smith the funding applications for Price’s research at UCL.

19. Letter, photocopy, from George Price (1 f) to Bill (W. D. Hamilton). Complains about WDH’s reply to GRP’s earlier letter. 'Well, I felt as though… I had written to you complaining about wishful thinking, and it was a little as though you had written in the margin, "More wishful thinking", and sent it back to me'.

20. Letter, photocopy, from George Price, 11 June 1972 (1 f) to Bill (W. D. Hamilton). Price asks WDH to read his ‘Twelve Days’ paper and to mark in margins comments. The letter ends with a brief discussion of selection equations.