- Pioneered the field of sociobiology
- theory of island biogeography
- Harvard professor for 46 years
- Pellegrino University research professor emeritus
- Author of 30 books; two won Pulitzer Prizes
- An entomologist and a conservationist
- Affectionately known as “the ant man”
- Collector of over 14,000 species of ants
Edward Osbourne Wilson was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on June 10, 1929. At the age of 7, a pinfish spine pierced his right eye. The accident went untreated and led to poor distance vision. He concentrated on the world of “the little things” (1994, Naturalist).
Dr. Wilson was the first to describe ant communication through chemical excretion. During his lifetime, he identified and described more than 450 new species of ants. In 1967, he coauthored the book The Theory of Island Biogeography with mathematical ecologist Robert MacAuthur.