Edward O. Wilson

Born Birmingham, Alabama

Edward O. Wilson (1929–2021) was a preeminent biologist and environmentalist whose prolific writing reached general audiences and helped establish the scientific disciplines of biogeography and sociobiology. Known as the world’s foremost expert on ants, his research also explored broader questions about human nature and the future of life on Earth.

Wilson’s groundbreaking study Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975) claimed a genetic basis for the evolution of social behaviors of all kinds of organisms, including—most controversially—humans. Spurred by critics who accused Wilson of engaging in biological determinism, he published On Human Nature (1978), for which he received his first of two Pulitzer Prizes. Wilson is also known for his foundational work in the field of island biogeography during the 1960s and for popularizing the term “biodiversity” in the 1980s. More recently, in Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life (2016), he urged keeping half of the planet wild to stave off mass extinctions. “[W]hen people become familiar with what’s in their natural environment, what’s interesting, what’s important on a broader scale, what gives them pleasures,” he said in a 2021 interview, “that depth of understanding leads to a long-term improvement in their quality of life.”

Artist Jennie Summerall posed Wilson in a setting reminiscent of the landscape on Lignum Vitae Key in Florida, which he helped preserve. Based on photographic images, the painting references Wilson's earlier studies on ant populations, while depicting him as he looked at the time of the painting, in 2006.

Nacido en Birmingham, Alabama

Edward O. Wilson fue un eminente biólogo y ambientalista cuyos prolíficos escritos alcanzaron al público amplio y ayudaron a establecer las disciplinas de la biogeografía y la sociobiología. Conocido como el mayor experto en hormigas del mundo, también exploró aspectos de la naturaleza humana y el futuro de la vida en la Tierra.

En su revolucionario estudio Sociobiología: La nueva síntesis (1975), examinó las bases genéticas de la evolución del comportamiento social en todo tipo de organismos, incluidos los humanos –objeto de gran controversia–. En respuesta a los críticos que lo acusaron de determinismo biológico, publicó Sobre la naturaleza humana (1978), que le ganó el primero de dos premios Pulitzer. Wilson se destacó también por su labor fundamental en el campo de la biogeografía insular en la década de 1960 y por popularizar el término “biodiversidad” en la década de 1980. En Medio planeta: La lucha por las tierras salvajes en la era de la sexta extinción (2016), exhortó a conservar la mitad del planeta en estado salvaje para evitar las extinciones masivas. “Cuando la gente se familiariza con lo que hay en su ambiente natural, lo que es interesante, importante a escala más amplia, lo que les da placer”, dijo en una entrevista de 2021, “esa comprensión profunda conduce a una mejor calidad de vida a largo plazo”.

The artist; purchased 2007 NPG