--- alias: - Martin Nowak - Martin A. Nowak born: 1965-04-07 category: Scientists & Researchers created: 2026-06-20 location: Cambridge, Massachusetts relations: - fn: 1 role: Professor of Mathematics and of Biology start: 2003 type: employed_by with: '[[Harvard University]]' - end: 2003 fn: 9 type: employed_by with: '[[Institute for Advanced Study]]' - end: 2026-02-25 fn: 10 reverse: true role: OGC review, 2021 sanctions, 2026 leave start: 2019-09 type: investigated with: '[[Harvard University]]' - fn: 9 role: Board of Advisors type: member_of with: '[[John Templeton Foundation]]' - end: 2026-04 fn: 14 type: member_of with: '[[Austrian Academy of Sciences]]' summary: Martin Nowak is a Harvard mathematical biologist who directed the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, founded with a 2003 Jeffrey Epstein gift, and was sanctioned in 2021 and placed on leave in 2026 over Epstein. tags: - Person - JeffreyEpstein - Harvard - SciencePhilanthropy - EvolutionaryDynamics - MathematicalBiology updated: 2026-09-25 --- Martin A. Nowak (born April 7, 1965) is an Austrian-born mathematical biologist at [Harvard University](/organizations/harvard-university/) who directed the [Program for Evolutionary Dynamics](/organizations/program-for-evolutionary-dynamics/) (PED) from its founding in 2003. The program was established with help from a $6.5 million gift from [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/), the largest single donation Epstein made to Harvard, and a 2020 university report found that Nowak gave Epstein an office and campus access used for more than forty visits after Epstein's 2008 sex-crimes conviction. Harvard sanctioned Nowak in 2021.[^1][^2] ### Mathematical Biology at Harvard Nowak trained in biochemistry and mathematics at the University of Vienna before working at the University of Oxford and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He joined Harvard in 2003 as professor of mathematics and biology and became the founding director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which applied mathematical models to evolution, cooperation, cancer, and the dynamics of infectious disease. His books include *Evolutionary Dynamics* (Harvard University Press, 2006) and *SuperCooperators* (Free Press, 2011).[^1][^3] Nowak's central research concerns the evolution of cooperation, set out in his 2006 *Science* paper "Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation," which catalogued kin selection, direct reciprocity, indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection as the mechanisms by which natural selection can favor cooperative behavior. In a 2010 *Nature* paper, "The Evolution of Eusociality," Nowak with Corina Tarnita and the biologist E. O. Wilson challenged the dominance of inclusive-fitness theory, prompting a rebuttal signed by more than 130 biologists.[^4][^5] The Program for Evolutionary Dynamics was created in 2003 under Harvard President Lawrence Summers following a proposal that, according to Harvard's later review, originated with Epstein and the mathematician [Benedict Gross](/people/benedict-gross/). Epstein told *Vanity Fair* that he had been reluctant to attach his name to the program and that Summers persuaded him to fund it. The program operated out of an office suite at One Brattle Square in Harvard Square rather than on the main campus.[^2][^6] ### Epstein's Donations and Campus Access A review of Harvard's ties to Epstein, commissioned by President Lawrence Bacow in September 2019 and released on May 1, 2020, found that Epstein gave Harvard $9,179,000 across 22 gifts between 1998 and 2008, of which the $6.5 million for the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics in 2003 was the largest. The review was conducted by the Office of the General Counsel under Diane Lopez with the law firm Foley Hoag, drew on more than 250,000 pages of documents, and interviewed over forty people. It found that Harvard stopped accepting Epstein gifts after his 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution, with the decision to halt gifts made under President [Drew Faust](/people/drew-faust/) between 2007 and 2008, though Epstein gave $736,000 after his 2006 arrest but before the conviction.[^2][^7] Epstein held a formal Harvard appointment as a visiting fellow in the psychology department for the 2005 to 2006 academic year, secured through department chair Stephen Kosslyn despite Epstein's lacking the doctoral degree the position normally required; Epstein reapplied for 2006 to 2007 but withdrew after his September 2006 arrest. The report found that Epstein retained a dedicated office at PED, identified as Office 610 and known internally as "Jeffrey's Office," to which he brought his own rug and hung his own photographs, with keycard and passcode access and a Harvard telephone line that remained until 2017.[^2][^7] The report found that Epstein visited the program more than forty times between 2010 and 2018, including six visits in 2018, often accompanied by young women in their twenties described as assistants. It found that Nowak approved posting on the PED website in 2014 a webpage featuring Epstein's photograph, biography, and charitable links under a tab labeled "Friends," on which Epstein was the only entry, and that the review described the program's account of Epstein's support as "flattering and false." Summers, former Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean Henry Rosovsky, and law professor [Alan Dershowitz](/people/alan-dershowitz/) were among those recorded as attending PED events.[^2][^8] ### Sanctions and Aftermath On March 26, 2021, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay announced that Nowak had violated several university policies and imposed sanctions: he was barred for two years from serving as principal investigator on new grants, prohibited for two years from taking on new undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral advisees, and allowed to continue teaching undergraduate courses. Harvard announced that the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics would be closed and that Nowak's research would move into the mathematics department. Nowak had been placed on paid administrative leave in May 2020.[^1][^8] The closure followed the review's finding that PED's administrator, "with Professor Nowak on notice," had sent Epstein's assistant unassigned access cards in 2017 so that Epstein could avoid the photograph and attestation required for a guest identification.[^9] Harvard reported that it had identified $200,937 in unspent Epstein funds, which it pledged to direct to organizations supporting victims of human trafficking, and stated it would not accept future gifts from Epstein or his estate. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences lifted the sanctions in 2023, restoring Nowak's research and advising privileges in March of that year.[^2][^10] ### The 2026 Files and Renewed Leave In February 2026 the journal *Nature* reported, drawing on [U.S. Department of Justice](/organizations/department-of-justice/) files, that Epstein's involvement with Nowak's work ran deeper than the 2020 review had described, including that Epstein reviewed page proofs of the 2010 eusociality paper and gave advice on responding to its critics. Nowak's name appears more than 8,000 times in the released files. *Nature* also reported that in 2009 Epstein routed scholarship money through Corina Tarnita, then Nowak's PhD student, to two young women studying mathematics at the University of Iași in Romania; Tarnita, by then at Princeton University, told *Nature* the payments were legitimate scholarships and that she wished she had never known Epstein.[^11][^12] A March 10, 2014 email chain published from the files showed Nowak writing to Epstein that "our spy was captured after completing her mission," to which Epstein replied "did you torture her." Nowak later said on his website that the line came from the video game *Civilization II*, where the response signals a successful operation. The files also showed that an Epstein assistant arranged 2014 travel for Nowak and a female Harvard graduate student to Epstein's Caribbean island.[^12][^13] On February 25, 2026, Harvard placed Nowak on paid administrative leave a second time, with FAS Dean Hopi Hoekstra citing new information from the released Department of Justice documents. In April 2026 Nowak resigned from the Austrian Academy of Sciences amid the renewed scrutiny.[^10][^14] ### Before Harvard Nowak's relationship with Epstein began in the late 1990s, while Nowak was at the Institute for Advanced Study and lecturing at Princeton, and Epstein supported his work at the institute before Harvard recruited him. Emails released in 2026 show that Nowak had use of Epstein's New York apartments and his Jaguar and made frequent trips to Epstein's homes in [New Mexico](/places/new-mexico/) and the Virgin Islands. After a 2002 trip Nowak wrote to [Ghislaine Maxwell](/people/ghislaine-maxwell/): "I would love to ride out with you for a whole day. Just you and me. both of us dressed as cowboys." Maxwell replied, "Riding off into the sunset w/ you sounds very dangerous - we might not come back," and signed off, "Be bad." A 2002 *New York* magazine profile reported that Nowak spoke with Epstein weekly and was flown to his homes to lecture, and quoted him: "Jeffrey has the mind of a physicist. It's like talking to a colleague in your field. . . . He has changed my life. Because of his support, I feel I can do anything I want." In September 2004 the photographer Rick Friedman photographed a Harvard dinner hosted by Epstein at which Nowak appeared with Epstein, Summers, Alan Dershowitz and the evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers.[^7][^15][^16] ### After the Conviction Soon after Epstein's 2009 release from the Palm Beach County jail, Nowak and his graduate student Corina Tarnita traveled to visit him. Nowak later told *The Boston Globe* that a spiritual adviser had told him he was "morally obligated to forgive someone who has served a prison sentence." Harvard's review found that Nowak understood from 2008 that President Drew Faust opposed taking Epstein's money but regarded the question as "unclear"; a January 2010 email described him as "trying to figure out a way to have Epstein give PED funds," and in December 2014 he asked the mathematics chair "confidentially" whether there was "an update concerning Jeffrey being an acceptable donor for Harvard?" Meanwhile donors Epstein introduced, [Leon Black](/people/leon-black/) and the Falconwood Foundation, paid 7.5 million dollars toward the program's rent, and Nowak, who sat on the [John Templeton Foundation](/organizations/john-templeton-foundation/)'s Board of Advisors, approved a 2015 letter falsely telling Templeton that an Epstein foundation had "established a gift" to the program in 2003. The review found that Nowak "knowingly approved PED's supplying false information" and that he "had no explanation" for it.[^9][^15] When *[Newsweek](/organizations/newsweek/)* prepared a 2011 story on Epstein, Epstein asked Nowak and another Harvard friend for character references, explaining that the story's focus was "on why do so many people want to talk to me and seem to ignore . . . their words . . . my crime." Nowak thanked Epstein for financial support in *SuperCooperators* (2011) and in at least six papers published between 2009 and 2012 on subjects including the spread of cancer and the evolution of HIV. In July 2019 he told *BuzzFeed News*: "The only donation from Epstein was received in 2003. The money was spent by about 2007," adding that "most research projects take many years from first idea until publication." Harvard's review, a year later, recorded Epstein's more than forty visits to Nowak's program between 2010 and 2018, his office and keycards, and the 2010 to 2015 gifts from donors he introduced.[^2][^15][^16][^17] Nowak's lab administrator arranged Epstein's visits, food and building access. In 2010, when her sister was job-hunting in New York, Nowak suggested Epstein hire her, listing among her credentials that she had provided "legal advice on how to fire models who became fat"; Epstein arranged an interview. Tarnita, who thanked Epstein in her 2009 dissertation "for allowing me to participate in his tireless pursuit of knowledge," later had an Epstein assistant arrange a salon appointment for her, was offered payment for a medical procedure, and in 2011 was referred by Epstein to a lawyer who resolved a visa problem; when she told him of her Princeton job talks, he wrote, "i only wish you well." Tarnita told the *Globe*: "I never saw Epstein behave inappropriately. I am revolted by his depravity and wish I had never met him." The Harvard lecturer Moshe Hoffman, who met Epstein at Nowak's lab in 2013, was taken to a Broadway show by an Epstein assistant at Epstein's expense and in February 2019 asked to stay at one of Epstein's apartments.[^15] ### Chomsky, Hillis, and Bin Sulayem On October 28, 2015, Epstein wrote jointly to Nowak, the linguist [Noam Chomsky](/people/noam-chomsky/), and the computer scientist Danny Hillis: "would sat the 14th work? cambridge."[^18] On December 23, 2015, he wrote to Nowak and Chomsky together: "animals dream . the mouse is not really there when the cat is chasing it in its dream. if dreams represent a language with no memory or grammar, they could be the precursor to language."[^19] In November 2016 Epstein arranged for [Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem](/people/sultan-ahmed-bin-sulayem/), chairman of [DP World](/organizations/dp-world/), to visit the [MIT Media Lab](/organizations/mit-media-lab/) and then Nowak's office. On November 29 Epstein's assistant [Lesley Groff](/people/lesley-groff/) asked [Joi Ito](/people/joi-ito/) about his timing for meeting Epstein on November 30 "up at Harvard," adding, "Also, this will be at Martin Nowak's office at 1 Brattle Square?" Ito replied that bin Sulayem would be with him at the Media Lab and "I can take Sultan to Martin's place," and that Epstein had planned to "leave the Lab or Martin's at 11:30AM."[^20] ### The Island and the Women Nowak, who was married, twice asked Epstein by email about bringing women to Epstein's island, and at least once Epstein paid for Nowak and a guest to fly in premium seats and stay two nights. In January 2014 Epstein arranged for Nowak to speak by telephone with a woman; Nowak wrote that he was "nervous like a schoolboy" and added: "I love life! she sounds really nice on the phone. did you ever bring her to harvard? do i know her?" Nowak told the *Globe* he never had a "relationship" with anyone Epstein introduced him to. A photograph released by the Justice Department purports to show Nowak and [George Church](/people/george-church/) on Epstein's island.[^15][^21] The *Globe* documented Nowak's contact with two young Eastern European women whom Epstein groomed and exploited and whose names the Justice Department redacted as victims; the newspaper identified them only as "the musician" and "the artist." In 2015 Epstein asked Nowak, who was traveling in Austria, to meet the musician there and advance her tuition for a music program; Nowak wrote that he was "investigating how to help her," their schedules did not overlap, and Epstein reimbursed her. Nowak told the *Globe* he never met her and does not recall her. Epstein introduced Nowak to the artist in 2018. In spring 2019, while the *[Miami Herald](/organizations/miami-herald/)* series was prompting renewed scrutiny, Nowak sent Epstein photographs of her with her artwork and wrote that she was working on her "master piece"; when Epstein paid for her to travel to New York, he texted her, "I understand you are going to see martin?" She replied, "Martin sayed [sic] that I can come to see him in Boston." Nowak and the artist, through her lawyer, said the visit did not happen; her lawyer said their contact, several emails and one call at Nowak's prompting, which she believes came at Epstein's suggestion, was not sexual. Nowak said he did not know she was being exploited and believed he was "merely supporting her career."[^15] In May 2019 Nowak asked Epstein's assistant to remove all references to his lab from Epstein's website: "The sooner the better please. . . . Things are getting very strange here."[^15] ### The Bequest Epstein's will, dated August 8, 2019, two days before his death, left Nowak 5 million dollars. Nowak said the bequest "came as a surprise" and that he has received no payment. In February 2026 he told the *Globe*: "I had no knowledge of his crimes. I was urged to cultivate Mr. Epstein to continue his financial support of academic endeavors." The *Globe* sent Harvard its questions on February 24, 2026; the next day Harvard announced that Summers had resigned and placed Nowak on leave.[^15][^21] [^1]: "Gay Levies Sanctions Against Prof. Nowak for Contacts With Jeffrey Epstein," *The Harvard Crimson,* March 26, 2021, on the $6.5 million PED gift, the 40-plus visits, the sanctions, the program closure, and the May 2020 leave. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/3/26/gay-sanctions-nowak-epstein/ [^2]: "Harvard Asked Its Lawyers to Review the University's Ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Here's What They Found," *The Harvard Crimson,* May 2, 2020, on the $9,179,000 in 22 gifts from 1998 to 2008, Office 610 with keycard access, the telephone line to 2017, the visit count, the unspent $200,937, and the halt on gifts. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/5/2/harvard-concludes-epstein-review/ [^3]: Nowak, Martin A. *Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life.* Harvard University Press, 2006. [^4]: Nowak, Martin A. "Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation," *Science* 314, no. 5805 (2006): 1560-1563, on kin selection, direct and indirect reciprocity, network reciprocity, and group selection. https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1133755 [^5]: Nowak, Martin A., Corina E. Tarnita, and Edward O. Wilson. "The Evolution of Eusociality," *Nature* 466 (2010): 1057-1062, the paper that drew a rebuttal signed by more than 130 biologists. [^6]: "Why did Jeffrey Epstein cultivate famous scientists?," *Scientific American,* 2019, on the establishment of PED under Summers and Epstein's account to Vanity Fair. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-did-jeffrey-epstein-cultivate-famous-scientists/ [^7]: "Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University," Harvard University Office of the General Counsel, May 2020, on the donation totals, the establishment of PED, and the gift policy. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208 [^8]: "Martin Nowak Sanctioned for Jeffrey Epstein Involvement," *Harvard Magazine,* March 2021, on the policy violations, the website descriptions, and the terms of the sanctions. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/03/martin-nowak-sanctioned-for-jeffrey-epstein-involvement [^9]: Lopez, Diane E., Ara B. Gershengorn, and Martin F. Murphy. *Report Concerning Jeffrey E. Epstein's Connections to Harvard University.* Harvard OGC and Foley Hoag LLP, May 2020, pp. 5, 10-17, 26-27, on Nowak's prior support at the Institute for Advanced Study, his understanding of Faust's decision, the 2010 and 2014 emails, the Black and Falconwood gifts, his Templeton advisory role, and the false-information finding. https://ogc.harvard.edu/file_url/208 ; mirror: https://archive.org/download/epstein-docs_20240108/1.%20Harvard%20Epstein%20Report.pdf [^10]: "Harvard Places Math Professor Martin Nowak on Paid Administrative Leave Over Epstein Ties," *The Harvard Crimson,* February 25, 2026, on the 2023 restoration and the renewed leave. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/25/nowak-leave-epstein/ [^11]: "Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time," *Harvard Magazine,* February 2026, on the Nature reporting, the page-proof advice on the eusociality paper, the 2014 island travel, and the second leave announced February 27, 2026. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/university-news/martin-nowak-harvard-administrative-leave-epstein [^12]: "Professor Corina Tarnita on the Epstein Files: 'I Wish I Had Never Known Him'," *Princeton Alumni Weekly,* 2026, on the March 10, 2014 "spy"/"torture" email exchange, Nowak's Civilization II explanation, and Tarnita's account of the scholarships. https://paw.princeton.edu/article/professor-corina-tarnita-epstein-files-i-wish-i-had-never-known-him [^13]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals," *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026, on Epstein's payment for premium travel and two nights' stay for Nowak and a guest; see also "Did you torture her?: Emails of Jeffrey Epstein and Martin Nowak reveal shocking details," *WION,* February 2026. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/ [^14]: "Harvard Professor Martin Nowak Resigns From Austrian Academy Amid Epstein Scrutiny," *The Harvard Crimson,* April 2, 2026, on Nowak's resignation from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/2/nowak-austrian-academy-resignation/ [^15]: Fernandes, Deirdre, and Tricia L. Nadolny. "Introductions to women. Free flights. Business deals. Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Harvard run deeper than previously known," *The Boston Globe,* February 25, 2026, on the late-1990s origins, the apartments and car, the Maxwell messages, the 2004 dinner photograph, the 2009 visit, the Newsweek references, the lab administrator, Tarnita, Hoffman, the island travel, the January 2014 introduction, the musician and the artist, the May 2019 email, the bequest, and Nowak's statements. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/25/metro/jeffrey-epstein-harvard-spotlight-report/ [^16]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein Called Himself A 'Science Philanthropist' And Donated Millions To These Researchers," *BuzzFeed News,* July 11, 2019, quoting the 2002 *New York* magazine profile. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-sex-trafficking-science-donations [^17]: Aldhous, Peter. "Jeffrey Epstein's Links To Scientists Are Even More Extensive Than We Thought," *BuzzFeed News,* August 27, 2019, on Nowak's statement, the *SuperCooperators* and journal acknowledgments, and the 2012 lunch at his institute. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/jeffrey-epstein-science-donations-apologies-statements [^18]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00842252, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Noam Chomsky, Martin Nowak and Danny Hillis, October 28, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00842252.pdf [^19]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00838191, DataSet 9, email from Jeffrey Epstein to Noam Chomsky and Martin Nowak, December 23, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00838191.pdf [^20]: U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, EFTA00439714, DataSet 9, email chain among Lesley Groff, Joichi Ito, the MIT Media Lab director's office and DP World staff, "Re: Jeffrey Epstein," November 29, 2016. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00439714.pdf [^21]: Owermohle, Sarah, and Austin Culpepper. "How Epstein enlisted Harvard scientists to burnish his reputation, and try to make a profit," *CNN,* February 19, 2026, on the island photograph and the will dated August 8, 2019. https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/19/politics/harvard-epstein-donations-influence-exclusive