Why did George Williams and Randolph Nesse publish “The Dawn of Darwinian Medicine” in 1991?

George Williams and Randolph Nesse published "The Dawn of Darwinian Medicine" in 1991 to argue that evolutionary biology is essential for understanding human health and disease.1

Specifically, they contended that evolutionary explanations are necessary to understand not only why the human body typically functions well, but also why it possesses certain aspects that leave it vulnerable to disease. By applying principles of evolutionary biology to medicine, their work helped expand research into why natural selection has left the human body susceptible to various conditions, such as those caused by environmental mismatches, evolutionary constraints, and trade-offs. Their article served as a catalyst for the field of Darwinian medicine, encouraging a more comprehensive biological perspective on why the body remains vulnerable to illness.1