Born in the United States in 1929, Edward Osbourne Wilson—better known as E. O. Wilson—received his master’s degree at the University of Alabama in 1950, and after studying briefly at the University of Tennessee, transferred to Harvard University for doctoral studies.
An avid outdoor explorer as a child, Wilson was blinded in one eye by a fishing accident at the age of seven, which permanently impaired his distance vision and depth perception. This prompted him to focus on "little things" like insects, in particularly ants. He completed his first scientific publication while still an undergrad on the ants of Alabama, commissioned by the State of Alabama.
Wilson was made a Junior Fellow of Harvard’s Society of Fellows, which enabled him to travel on overseas expeditions and collect ant species samples. By the end of the 1950s, he was considered the world's leading expert on ants.
From 1956 until 1996, Wilson was part of the faculty of Harvard where he studied ant evolution, including how ants developped into new species by escaping environmental disadvantages and moving into new habitats. In 1967, Wilson and mathematician and ecologist Robert MacArthur. co-authored The Theory of Island Biogeography, now a standard work of ecology. He also authored The Insect Societies (1971), Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975), The Diversity of Life (1992), his biography Naturalist (1994) and various other books.
Wilson retired from Harvard in 1996 and holds the positions of Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology. He is also the founder of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.
Wilson delivered the Beatty Lecture on November 9, 1977, titled "The Evolution of Social Behaviour".
Image: Harvard University Archives
