Edward. O. Wilson, the trailblazing U.S. scientist, professor and writer whose research of bugs and clarion name to guard Earth earned him the nickname “Darwin’s natural heir”, has died at age 92.
Wilson, whose demise was introduced on Monday by his basis, was an award-winning biologist and longtime Harvard University analysis professor, thought of the world’s main authority on ants and their habits.
While an entomologist early in his profession, he broadened his scope immensely, learning not simply bugs however the social interactions of birds, mammals and people, and he successfully — and controversially — established a brand new discipline of science often known as sociobiology.
He was the writer of a whole lot of scientific papers and greater than 30 books, two of which received him Pulitzer Prizes for nonfiction: 1978’s On Human Nature, and The Ants in 1990.
“Ed’s holy grail was the sheer delight of the pursuit of knowledge,” stated Paula Ehrlich, president of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and co-founder of the Half-Earth Project.
“A relentless synthesizer of ideas, his courageous scientific focus and poetic voice transformed our way of understanding ourselves and our planet.
“His greatest hope was that students everywhere share his passion for discovery as the ultimate scientific foundation for future stewardship of our planet.”
Wilson, who died on Sunday in Massachusetts, had change into famend for his advances in world conservation, and suggested preeminent scientific and conservation organisations.
But his trailblazing work was not with out controversy. In a lot of his 1975 ebook Sociobiology, he laid out his concept of animal habits, which earned excessive reward from fellow scientists. In the ultimate chapter, although, Wilson precipitated an uproar by proposing that human habits is essentially genetically based mostly, and that people purchase a predisposition to such issues because the division of labour between genders, tribalism, male dominance and parental-child bonding.
