Harvard University professor and Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson took a break from searching for insects in the Walden Pond State Reserve in Concord, Mass., in 1998. Wilson died Sunday at the age of 92.
Thomas James Hurst / AP
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Thomas James Hurst / AP
Harvard University professor and Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson took a break from searching for insects in the Walden Pond State Reserve in Concord, Mass., in 1998. Wilson died Sunday at the age of 92.
Thomas James Hurst / AP
Pioneering biologist, environmental activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward O. Wilson has died. He is 92 years old.
The influential and sometimes controversial Harvard professor was first named ant research – he is commonly known by the nickname “ant-man”. But he later extended his scope to the intersection of human behavior and genetics, creating the field of social biology in the process. He died on Sunday in Burlington, Mass., the EO Wilson Biodiversity Foundation said in a statement. website.
“His impact extends to every aspect of society,” the foundation’s president, David J. Prend, said in a statement. “He was a true visionary with unique powers of inspiration and strength. He made it clear, perhaps better than anyone, what it means to be human.”
Prend describes Wilson as a “relentless synthesizer of ideas” whose “courageous scientific focus and poetic voice have transformed our understanding of ourselves and our planet.”
As an entomologist starting out at a time when scientists are deepening their understanding of genetic mechanisms, such as DNA, Wilson has studied how ant behavior evolves through the process of evolution. natural selection.
He first became famous with his 1975 book, Sociobiology: A new synthesis in which he explains evidence that human behavior is influenced by genetics.
Wilson argues that our genes guide our social behaviors – everything from war to altruism. That idea sparked a backlash from fellow scholars and activists, who equated biological determinism with the eugenics movement of the early 20th century and Nazi Germany.
But his ideas outlasted critics and eventually gained wide acceptance not only in academia but also in the community at large.
Wilson later leveraged his fame to engage with the cause of biodiversity and environmentalism. Among other things, he advocates setting aside half of the Earth as a wilderness.
Talk to NPR in 2016, he said that the fate of the planet “is in the hands of people, of nations, especially ours, capable of changing everything.”
Fellow biologist Richard Dawkins tweeted: “Sad news of Ed Wilson’s death. Greatest entomologist, ecologist, pathologist, inventor of social biology, pioneer of island biogeography, geohumanist & biophiliac.”
But his influence was so great that musician Paul Simon also tweeted his sadness at Wilson’s passing – calling him “a great scientist” and “dear friend.”
“Ed was an intellectual giant and a gentle, humble, compassionate man,” said Simon.
Wilson is the author of more than 30 books and has won two Pulitzer Prizes. Among his numerous scientific awards are the US National Medal of Science and Crafoord Prize.
Wilson is survived by his daughter, Catherine. No cause has been given for his death.
