Modern-day ‘Darwin’ Edward O. Wilson dies at the age of 92

Edward O. Wilson, an American naturalist, dubbed as the ‘modern-day Darwin’ whose contributions and interests in ants led him to conclusions about human nature being directed by genetics rather than culture, died on 26th December at 92.

He died on Sunday in Burlington, Massachusetts. As per the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation reports on its website, there was no major cause of death given. 

E.O. Wilson was considered one of the world’s leading minds on natural history and conservation, alongside British naturalist David Attenborough. 

Widely recognized as the authority leading on ants, Wilson stated and advocated protecting what he popularly called “the little things that run the world,” the trillion insects that help to preserve the Earth’s biosphere.

He warned the world that all animals and plant species are on the brink of extinction by the end of the century if the human species don’t stop interfering with the environment. He also stated that the human species would wipe out from the face of the Earth if the insects were wiped out of the front of the Earth. 

Wilson said in a TED Conference speech in 2017-

“Humans will destroy these ecosystems, and the species composing them, at the peril of human existence, and unfortunately, we are destroying them with ingenuity and ceaseless energy” 

He was the author of hundreds of scientific papers and more than 30 books, two of his books even won Pulitzer Prizes for nonfiction: “On Human Nature” (1978) and “The Ants” (1990). 

Paula Ehrlich, president of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation and co-founder of the Half-Earth Project, said that Ed’s Holy Grail was the sheer delight of the pursuit of knowledge. 

Wilson applied his study of ants to other organisms, including the human species, to develop a ‘socio-biology’ science. His vision was to observe genetics and evolution play a role in social behaviour. 

His notion was severely challenged by the critics who claimed that his ideas justified some form of discrimination. 

His book “On Human Nature” in 1978 won him a Pulitzer Prize. He addressed his critics by elaborating his observation on the link between biology and human behaviour in morality, sex and aggression. 

Wilson’s seminal contributions fundamentally changed the way scientists approached these disciplines and explained why Wilson was fondly known as an academic god for many young scientists.

This astonishing record of achievement was due to Wilson’s phenomenal ability to piece together new ideas using information garnered from disparate fields of study. 

He provided some of the ground-breaking work in evolution and entomology; in his later years, Wilson spearheaded a campaign to unite the religious and scientific communities in an odd-couple pairing; he presented the best chance to preserve the Earth.

He managed to tie religion and science in a single book in 2006. “The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth”, Wilson wrote in 2006 in a format of a series of letters written to an imaginary Baptist preacher in pursuit of an ecological alliance to save the Earth. 

As Wilson grew older, he wrote with more maturity, desperation and urgency replaced political correctness in his writings.

He went boldly to expose ecological destruction caused by fundamentalist religions and unrestricted population growth and challenged the central dogma of conservation biology, demonstrating that conservation could not succeed if restricted to tiny, isolated habitat patches. 

Wilson received more than 150 awards and medals around the world. He also received more than 40 honorary doctorates in his lifetime.

He was a renowned member of more than 30 prestigious organizations, institutions and academies.

Two animal species are scientifically named in his honour. He was the guest lecturer at more than 100 universities and institutions worldwide. 

In 1995, he was named as one of the 25 most influential American personalities by Time, and in 1996 an international survey ranked him as one of the 100 most influential scientists in history. In 2008 he was elected one of the 100 most influential scientists in history by the Britannica Guide.