E. O. Wilson (1929–2021,) fully Edward Osborne Wilson, was an American zoologist, naturalist, and behavioral and evolutionary biologist. He was one of the leading authorities on the ecology, systematics, and evolution of the ant.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Wilson attended the University of Alabama and received a doctorate in biology at Harvard, where he has taught since 1955. He switched from ornithology to entomology because of a childhood eye injury and the onset of partial deafness in his teens. Early in his academic career, Wilson determined that ants communicate mainly through the transmission of chemical substances called pheromones.
Wilson is the foremost advocate of sociobiology, the study of the genetic basis of the social behavior of all animals, including humans. His Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975) proposed that the fundamental biological principles on which animal societies are founded also relate to humans. Wilson’s On Human Nature (1978; Pulitzer, 1979) discussed the application of sociobiology to human aggression, sexuality, and ethics. His The Ants (1990; Pulitzer) was a groundbreaking synopsis of contemporary knowledge of ants.
Wilson’s volumes on religious and philosophical topics include In Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998.) His autobiography is Naturalist (1994.) His début novel, Anthill: A Novel (2010,) featured both human and insect characters. Letters to a Young Scientist (2013) is a volume of advice directed at promising science researchers.
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I have argued in this book that we are human in good part because of the particular way we affiliate with other organisms. They are the matrix in which the human mind originated and is permanently rooted, and they offer the challenge and freedom innately sought. To the extent that each person can feel like a naturalist, the old excitement of the untrammeled world will be regained. I offer this as a formula of enchantment to invigorate poetry and myth: mysterious and little known organisms live within walking distance of where you sit. Splendor awaits in minute proportions.
—E. O. Wilson
Topics: Wilderness
Nature holds the key to our aesthetic, intellectual, cognitive and even spiritual satisfaction.
—E. O. Wilson
Topics: Satisfaction
It’s like having astronomy without knowing where the stars are.
—E. O. Wilson
People would rather believe than know.
—E. O. Wilson
If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.
—E. O. Wilson
We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.
—E. O. Wilson
I will be brief. Not nearly so brief as Salvador Dali, who gave the world’s shortest speech. He said I will be so brief I have already finished, and he sat down.
—E. O. Wilson
Topics: Brevity
Only in the last moment of human history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world.
—E. O. Wilson
Topics: Wildlife
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