Edward O. Wilson known as "ant man", was born on June 10, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama. His parents divorced when he was young, and he was moved frequently throughout his childhood. Wilson grew up exploring the forests and wildlife. One of these adventures left him partly blind, but they also set off his lifelong fascination with ants and their social structures.
Wilson earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Alabama. In 1955, he received his Ph. D. from Harvard and worked there until retirement.
Wilson's early study of ants led to his first major discovery in 1959: how ants communicate through the release of chemical signals. Later, in 1990, Wilson and German biologist Bert Holldobler published their Pulitzer-winning The Ants. It detailed the insects' social structure that was both valued by scholars and accessible to general readers.
Another of Wilson's major works started in the early 1960s when he teamed up with Robert MacAr-thur. The pair published The Theory of Island Biogeography, where they sought to explain why different places have different numbers of species.
What many consider to be Wilson's most important contributions to evolutionary biology came in 1975 when he published Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. The work explored the genetic roots of animal behavior and argued that genes shaped human behavior. Wilson faced accusations for these ideas but his work finally largely proved true. In 1978, his ideas on the role biology plays in human culture peaked in On Hu-man Nature, which won him a Pulitzer (普利策奖) in 1979.
Wilson published more than 400 scientific papers and 20 books. These achievements offered him a type of superstar status, but friends and colleagues say the polite Southerner remained down to earth. "Professor Wilson really listened and engaged with whomever he was interacting with," said Corrie S. Moreau, who was one of Wilson's final advisees.
