Dr. E.O. Wilson
“This planet can be a paradise in the 22nd century.”
One of the world’s most distinguished scientists, EO Wilson is a university research professor and honorary curator in entomology at Harvard University. His most recent work has focused on drawing public attention to the impact human activity has had on life on the planet. His research includes evolutionary biology, the biology of social insects, the classification of ants, sociobiology, biogeography, and ethical philosophy. He was 13 when he discovered, in a vacant lot near the docks of Mobile, Alabama, the first known US colonies of fire ants, Solenopsis invicta, invaders from Brazil and Argentina.
He is most famous for the publication in 1975 of Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, a work of deep insight that advanced evolutionary thinking and proved a Darwinian manifesto, describing social behaviour from the ants to humans. It was also the work that threw Wilson into one of his biggest controversies, being accused of suggesting that some human beings are genetically superior to others. Another major contribution has been, with the physicist turned biologist Charles Lumsden, the idea of “gene-culture co-evolution.” Essentially it describes how culture and genetics intertwine to create the complexity of human life, reaching for the biological roots of culture.
Drawing from his deep knowledge of the earth’s “little creatures” and his sense that their contribution to the planet’s ecology is underappreciated, he produced what may be his most important book, The Diversity of Life. In it he describes how an intricately interconnected natural system is threatened by a man-made biodiversity crisis he calls the "sixth extinction" -- the most devastating trauma since the extinction event that laid waste the dinosaurs and other creatures 65 million years ago. In it he notes that the 1.5 million species named so far by scientists represent only a tiny fraction of the tens of millions that may be out there.
Wilson’s prediction that 30 percent to 50 percent of all species would be extinct by the middle of the 21st century was meant to provoke -- and it did. With the human population expected to reach 9-10 billion by the end of the century and the planet in the middle of its sixth mass extinction -- this time due to human activity -- the next few years are critical in maintaining anything near the current level of biodiversity.
Wilson believes, “The two major challenges for the 21st century are to improve the economic situation of the majority and save as much of the planet as we can.” With his most recent book, The Creation, he wants to put the differences of science-based explanations and faith-based explanations aside “to protect Earth's vanishing natural habitats and species ...; in other words, the Creation, however we believe it came into existence.”
Read about -- and help grant -- E.O. Wilson's wish >>
PHOTO CREDIT: Jim Harrison, Harvard
