Biologist called ‘Darwin’s natural heir’ dead at 92
BOSTON — Edward O. Wilson, the pioneering Harvard biologist who advanced the provocative theory that human behaviour such as war and altruism has a genetic basis and warned against the decline of ecosystems, has died. He was 92.
Wilson was “called ‘Darwin’s natural heir,’ and was known affectionately as ‘the ant man’ for his pioneering work as an entomologist,” according to an announcement posted Monday on the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation’s website. He died on Dec. 26 in Burlington, Massachusetts.
“It would be hard to understate Ed’s scientific achievements, but his impact extends to every facet of society. He was a true visionary with a unique ability to inspire and galvanize. He articulated, perhaps better than anyone, what it means to be human,” David J. Prend, chairman of the board of E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, said in a statement.
The professor and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author first gained widespread attention for his 1975 book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, in which he spelled out the evidence suggesting a link between human behaviour and genetics. The work created a storm of controversy among fellow academics who equated sociobiology’s theories with sexism, racism and Nazism.
More recently, Wilson had championed the importance of preserving diverse species and ecosystems. “The diversity of life on Earth is far greater than even most biologists recognize,” he said in 1993.
In 1979, On Human Nature
— the third volume in a series including The Insect Societies and Sociobiology — earned Wilson his first Pulitzer Prize. His second Pulitzer came in 1991 with The Ants, which Wilson cowrote with Harvard colleague Bert Holldobler.
Among his other honours was the 1990 Crafoord Prize in biosciences from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the highest scientific award in the field. Time magazine named him one of America’s 25 most influential people in 1996.
Wilson’s sociobiology theories transformed the field of biology and reignited the nature-vs.nurture debate among scientists. Wilson argued that social behaviours from warfare to altruism had a genetic basis, an idea that contradicted the prevailing view that cultural and environmental factors determined human behaviour.
Critics argued that such a theory bolstered social injustice, including discrimination against women, by saying that the inequality is written in human genes. Fifteen Boston-area scholars joined in a letter denouncing it, and in one case protesters dumped a pitcher of ice water on Wilson’s head while he was speaking at a scientific meeting in 1978.
Wilson is survived by his daughter, Catherine. He was predeceased by his wife, Irene.