E. O. Wilson

E. O. Wilson got married in the year 1955 to Irene and the couple currently lives in Lexington, Massachusetts. They have one daughter named Catherine who was born to them thirteen years later.

Wilson was born on June 10, 1929 in the town of Birmingham, Alabama to Edward Wilson and Inez Wilson. In his early childhood, the Wilson family mainly lived in areas close to Washington DC and Mobile in Alabama.

His parents got divorced in 1936, when Wilson was only 7 years old and he started to live with Edward and his second wife. It was at this time that Wilson blinded an eye while fishing and though he underwent a cataract operation the vision in his left eye remained impaired.

From a very early age, Wilson was interested in insects and in particular he has a special attachment to ants; whose activities he studied with much care. By the time he was 18 he also became interested in flies but returned to study ants.

Wilson decided to make biology his career and enrolled in the ‘University of Alabama’. He was awarded his bachelor’s degree in the year 1949 and a year later he was awarded the MS in biology that paved the way for a highly successful career.

However Wilson’s thirst for knowledge did not end after acquiring the MS from the University of Alabama; he then proceeded to the hallowed Harvard University to earn a doctorate in biology in the year 1955. Subsequently he became a faculty member of Harvard.

It was in the year 1955 that Wilson first came up with his first breakthrough in the study of ants as he finished taxonomic analysis of a particular breed of ants named Lasius and eventually came up with the concept of 'character displacement’ of species. He worked on the project with W. L. Brown.

1956 was a very productive year in Wilson’s career as he was successful in making more than one discovery. The first was the discovery of pheromones in ants that help in their communication and the second was the discovery of the taxon cycle which chronicled the changing habitats of different species.

He worked on the study of ants for many years and finally came up with his first major book titled ‘The Insect Societies’ in the year 1971. The book went on to win many accolades and is regarded as one of the most authoritative books on the subject ever written.

In the year 1975, Wilson came up with another unique branch of biological study known as socio-biology and published the book ‘Sociobiology: The New Synthesis’ which went on to become a famous but also controversial work among academicians.

His books ‘On Human Nature’ written in the year 1979 Wilson further explained the theories he first put forward in relation to socio-biology and applied it to the characteristics of human beings.

The book ‘Diversity of Life’ he published in the year 1992 also went on to become one of the best sellers of the period and the book also explained how the extinction of certain species came about due to the various activities of human beings.