William George Hill

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William George Hill (7 August 1940 – 17 December 2021) He is credited as co-discoverer of the Hill–Robertson effect with his doctoral advisor, Alan Robertson.

Education Hill was educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire and studied agriculture at Wye College, University of London graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1961. He studied genetics at the University of California, Davis, graduating with a Master of Science degree in 1963, then moved to Edinburgh to pursue a PhD in population genetics with Alan Robertson. His presented thesis was "Studies on artificial selection". He was awarded a Doctor of Science degree in 1976 for research on quantitative genetics.

Research and career Hill was distinguished for his theoretical contributions to the study of the population and quantitative genetics of finite populations, in particular with respect to multilocus problems.

Awards and honours Hill was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1979, a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1985 and appointed OBE in 2004.

In 2018 he was awarded The Royal Society's Darwin Medal for his research in quantitative genetics.

In 2019 he was awarded The Genetics Society's Mendel Medal at The Centenary of Genetics Conference, for his contribution to quantitative genetics.