Edward O. Wilson: Ants to Sociobiology

On December 26 of last year, the world of biology lost one of its most distinguished thinkers and authors, a professor for 46 of his 92 years at Harvard University. Professor Edward O. Wilson authored more than 30 books and was awarded, among many other prizes, two Pulitzer Prizes in General Non-fiction, one for “On Human Nature” (1978) and one for “The Ants” (1990). He coauthored the latter with longtime colleague Bert HÖlldobler. He was drawn to insects from his earliest days of observing fire ants in his childhood state of Alabama, becoming so much an expert on ants that he became known as “the ant man.” His one book of fiction is “Anthill” (2010). But his contributions to biology extend so far beyond that one specialty, building outward from the behavior of ants to evolutionary bi…