E. O. Wilson

About E. O. Wilson

Who is it?: Biologist
Birth Day: June 10, 1929
Birth Place: Birmingham, United States
Alma mater: University of Alabama Harvard University
Known for: Popularizing sociobiology Epic of Evolution Character displacement Island biogeography
Awards: Newcomb Cleveland Prize (1967) Leidy Award (1979) Pulitzer Prize (1979) Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (1984) Crafoord Prize (1990) Pulitzer Prize (1991) International Prize for Biology (1993) Carl Sagan Award for  Public Understanding of Science (1994) Kistler Prize (2000) Nierenberg Prize (2001) BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology (2010) International Cosmos Prize (2012)
Fields: Biology
Institutions: Harvard University Duke University
Thesis: A Monographic Revision of the Ant Genus Lasius (1955)
Doctoral advisor: Frank M. Carpenter
Doctoral students: Daniel Simberloff Donald J. Farish Corrie Moreau
Influences: William Morton Wheeler

E. O. Wilson

E. O. Wilson was born on June 10, 1929 in Birmingham, United States, is Biologist. Edward Osborne Wilson or better known as E. O. Wilson is one of the world’s leading expert in the field of biology. Born in the Alabama, he spent his early childhood in the Washington. When his parents separated, Edward went on to stay with his father. Owing to a fishing accident in his childhood, Wilson had to live with a dysfunctional left eye his whole life. His disability prevented him from studying animals and birds in the field so he concentrated on studying miniature creatures such as ants and bugs. Thus began a long-lasting association and in today’s world he is regarded as the foremost authority on the study of ants which is also known as myrmecology and he has contributed immensely towards further discoveries in this field. In addition to myrmecology, E. O. Wilson is also credited for being the founding father of the branch of biology known as socio-biology and biodiversity. In addition to his research work, he has written bestselling books that have gone on to win major accolades. Many universities and organizations across the world have conferred upon him numerous accolades and honours. Read on to know more about the life, work and achievements of this eminent biologist
E. O. Wilson is a member of Scientists

Does E. O. Wilson Dead or Alive?

As per our current Database, E. O. Wilson is still alive (as per Wikipedia, Last update: May 10, 2020).

🎂 E. O. Wilson - Age, Bio, Faces and Birthday

Currently, E. O. Wilson is 95 years, 5 months and 11 days old. E. O. Wilson will celebrate 96rd birthday on a Tuesday 10th of June 2025. Below we countdown to E. O. Wilson upcoming birthday.

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
Popular As E. O. Wilson
Occupation Scientists
Age 95 years old
Zodiac Sign Cancer
Born June 10, 1929 (Birmingham, United States)
Birthday June 10
Town/City Birmingham, United States
Nationality United States

🌙 Zodiac

E. O. Wilson’s zodiac sign is Cancer. According to astrologers, the sign of Cancer belongs to the element of Water, just like Scorpio and Pisces. Guided by emotion and their heart, they could have a hard time blending into the world around them. Being ruled by the Moon, phases of the lunar cycle deepen their internal mysteries and create fleeting emotional patterns that are beyond their control. As children, they don't have enough coping and defensive mechanisms for the outer world, and have to be approached with care and understanding, for that is what they give in return.

🌙 Chinese Zodiac Signs

E. O. Wilson was born in the Year of the Snake. Those born under the Chinese Zodiac sign of the Snake are seductive, gregarious, introverted, generous, charming, good with money, analytical, insecure, jealous, slightly dangerous, smart, they rely on gut feelings, are hard-working and intelligent. Compatible with Rooster or Ox.

Some E. O. Wilson images

Famous Quotes:

Now when you cut a forest, an ancient forest in particular, you are not just removing a lot of big trees and a few birds fluttering around in the canopy. You are drastically imperiling a vast array of species within a few square miles of you. The number of these species may go to tens of thousands. ... Many of them are still unknown to science, and science has not yet discovered the key role undoubtedly played in the maintenance of that ecosystem, as in the case of fungi, microorganisms, and many of the insects.

Awards and nominations:

Wilson's scientific and conservation honors include:

Biography/Timeline

1950

Concerned that he might not be able to afford to go to a university, Wilson tried to enlist in the United States Army. He planned to earn U.S. government financial support for his education, but failed the Army medical examination due to his impaired eyesight. Wilson was able to afford to enroll in the University of Alabama after all, earning his B.S. and M.S. degrees in biology there in 1950. In 1952 he transferred to Harvard University.

1955

Appointed to the Harvard Society of Fellows, he could travel on overseas expeditions, collecting ant species of Cuba and Mexico and travel the South Pacific, including Australia, New Guinea, Fiji, New Caledonia and Sri Lanka. In 1955, he received his Ph.D. and married Irene Kelley.

1956

From 1956 until 1996 Wilson was part of the faculty of Harvard. He began as an ant taxonomist and worked on understanding their evolution, how they developed into new species by escaping environmental disadvantages and moving into new habitats. He developed a theory of the "taxon cycle".

1960

Wilson has said that, if he could start his life over he would work in microbial ecology, when discussing the reinvigoration of his original fields of study since the 1960s. He studied the mass extinctions of the 20th century and their relationship to modern society, and in 1998 argued for an ecological approach at the Capitol:

1971

In 1971, he published the book The Insect Societies about the biology of social insects like ants, bees, wasps and termites. In 1973, Wilson was appointed 'Curator of Insects' at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. In 1975, he published the book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis applying his theories of insect behavior to vertebrates, and in the last chapter, humans. He speculated that evolved and inherited tendencies were responsible for hierarchical social organisation among humans. In 1978 he published On Human Nature, which dealt with the role of biology in the evolution of human culture and won a Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

1976

Marshall Sahlins's 1976 work The Use and Abuse of Biology was a direct criticism of Wilson's theories.

1978

Wilson wrote in his 1978 book On Human Nature, "The evolutionary epic is probably the best myth we will ever have." Wilson's use of the word "myth" provides people with meaningful placement in time celebrating shared heritage. Wilson's fame prompted use of the morphed phrase epic of evolution. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011.

1979

Wilson is the Pellegrino University Research Professor, Emeritus in Entomology for the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, a lecturer at Duke University, and a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (for On Human Nature in 1979, and The Ants in 1991) and a New York Times bestseller for The Social Conquest of Earth, Letters to a Young Scientist, and The Meaning of Human Existence.

1981

In 1981 after collaborating with Charles Lumsden, he published Genes, Mind and Culture, a theory of gene-culture coevolution. In 1990 he published The Ants, co-written with Bert Hölldobler, his second Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

1987

Objections from evangelical Christians included those of Paul E. Rothrock in 1987: "... sociobiology has the potential of becoming a religion of scientific materialism." Philosopher Mary Midgley encountered Sociobiology in the process of writing Beast and Man (1996) and significantly rewrote the book to offer a critique of Wilson's views. Midgley praised the book for the study of animal behavior, clarity, scholarship, and encyclopedic scope, but extensively critiqued Wilson for conceptual confusion, scientism, and anthropomorphism of genetics.

1990

Wilson, along with Bert Hölldobler, carried out a systematic study of ants and ant behavior, culminating in the 1990 encyclopedic work The Ants. Because much self-sacrificing behavior on the part of individual ants can be explained on the basis of their genetic interests in the survival of the sisters, with whom they share 75% of their genes (though the actual case is some species' queens mate with multiple males and therefore some workers in a colony would only be 25% related), Wilson argued for a sociobiological explanation for all social behavior on the model of the behavior of the social insects.

1996

In 1996, Wilson officially retired from Harvard University, where he continues to hold the positions of Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology. He founded the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, which finances the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and is an "independent foundation" at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University. Wilson became a special lecturer at Duke University as part of the agreement.

1998

Understanding the scale of the extinction crisis has led him to advocate for forest protection, including the "Act to Save America's Forests", first introduced in 1998, until 2008, but never passed. The Forests Now Declaration calls for new markets-based mechanisms to protect tropical forests. In 2014, Wilson called for setting aside 50% of the earth's surface for other species to thrive in as the only possible strategy to solve the extinction crisis.

2002

Wilson has published 14 books during the new millennium: The Future of Life, 2002, Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Ant Genus, 2003, From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books, 2005, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, September 2006, Nature Revealed: Selected Writings 1949–2006, The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies, 2009, Anthill: A Novel April 2010, Kingdom of Ants: Jose Celestino Mutis and the Dawn of Natural History in the New World, 2010, The Leafcutter Ants: Civilization by Instinct, 2011, The Social Conquest of Earth, 2012, Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life, 2016.

2003

Wilson coined the phrase scientific humanism as "the only worldview compatible with science's growing knowledge of the real world and the laws of nature". Wilson argued that it is best suited to improve the human condition. In 2003, he was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto.

2011

Sociobiology was initially met with substantial criticism. Several of Wilson's colleagues at Harvard, such as Richard Lewontin and Stephen Jay Gould, were strongly opposed to his ideas regarding sociobiology. Gould, Lewontin, and others from the Sociobiology Study Group from the Boston area wrote "Against 'Sociobiology'" in an open letter criticizing Wilson's "deterministic view of human society and human action". Although attributed to members of the Sociobiology Study Group, it seems that Lewontin was the main author. In a 2011 interview, Wilson said, "I believe Gould was a charlatan. I believe that he was ... seeking reputation and credibility as a scientist and Writer, and he did it consistently by distorting what other Scientists were saying and devising arguments based upon that distortion."

2014

He published 3 books in 2014 alone: Letters to a Young Scientist, A Window on Eternity: A Biologist's Walk Through Gorongosa National Park, and The Meaning of Human Existence.

2015

In a New Scientist interview published on 21 January 2015, Wilson said that "Religion 'is dragging us down' and must be eliminated 'for the sake of human progress'", and "So I would say that for the sake of human progress, the best thing we could possibly do would be to diminish, to the point of eliminating, religious faiths." On the question of God, Wilson has described his position as provisional deism and explicitly denied the label of "atheist", preferring "agnostic". He has explained his faith as a trajectory away from traditional beliefs: "I drifted away from the church, not definitively agnostic or atheistic, just Baptist & Christian no more." Wilson argues that the belief in God and rituals of religion are products of evolution. He argues that they should not be rejected or dismissed, but further investigated by science to better understand their significance to human nature. In his book The Creation, Wilson suggests that Scientists ought to "offer the hand of friendship" to religious Leaders and build an alliance with them, stating that "Science and religion are two of the most potent forces on Earth and they should come together to save the creation."

2019

The book was mentioned in Jonathan Haidt’s book The Righteous Mind.

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