Hampton Lawrence Carson (November 5, 1914 – December 19, 2004) was an eminent American biologist best known for his work on the chromosomes of new species of the fruit fly Drosophila and his contributions to our understanding of their evolution.
His doctoral thesis on the cytogenetics of dark-winged fungus gnats was considered "definitive" by Dobzhansky.
Carson studied the population genetics and polytene chromosome polymorphisms of the highly diverse lineage of Drosophila species on the Hawaiian islands and proposed that speciation of these flies in the island chain was tied to isolation caused by formation of new islands.
Within islands, he argued that isolation between some species was caused by lava flows creating different forest patches or kipukas, and that reproductive isolation was accelerated due to within deme sexual selection.
[1] Although Hampton Carson retired from the University of Hawaii faculty in 1985, he remained active in research and continued living in Hawaii with his wife and colleague Meredith.