Museum of Comparative Zoology
Harvard University
26 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138-2902
Phone: (617) 495-2315; Fax: (617) 495-1224; E-mail: ewilson@eob.harvard.edu
Present Title
University Research Professor and Honorary Curator in Entomology, Harvard University.
Born:
Birmingham, Alabama, June 10, 1929; parents: Linnette Freeman Huddleston and Edward Osborne Wilson, Sr.
(deceased). Married: Irene Kelley, 1955. One daughter: Catherine, born 1963.
Education:
Graduated Decatur Senior High School, Decatur, Alabama, 1946
B.S. (biol.), University of Alabama, 1949
M.S. (biol.), University of Alabama, 1950
Ph.D. (biol.), Harvard University, 1955
Positions:
Alabama Department of Conservation: Entomologist, 1949
Harvard University: Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows, 1953-56; Assistant Professor
of Biology, 1956-58; Associate Professor of Zoology, 1958-64; Professor of Zoology,
1964-1976; Curator in Entomology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, 1973-97; Honorary
Curator in Entomology,Museum of Comparative Zoology, 1997-; Frank B, Baird Jr.
Professor of Science, 1976-1994; Mellon Professor of the Sciences, 1990-1993;
Pellegrino University Professor, 1994 -June 1997; Pellegrino University
Professor, Emeritus, July 1997-December 1997; Pellegrino University Research
Professor, December 9, 1997-
University of California, Berkeley: Hitchcock Visiting Professor, 1972
Society for the Study of Evolution: President, 1973
Marine Biological Laboratories: Board of Trustees, 1976-80
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation: Fellow, 1976; Advisory Board, 1977-81; Committee of
Selection, 1982-89
World Wildlife Fund: Scientific Advisory Committee, 1978-; Board of Directors, 1984-94;
Executive Committee, 1987-92
National Research Council: Board on Science and Technology in International Development, 1984-86;
Committee on Research Opportunities in Biology, 1985-89; Chairman, Committee on Biodiversity, 1988-90
National Science Board Taskforce on Biodiversity, 1987-89
Xerces Society: President, 1989-90
New York Botanical Garden: Board of Directors, 1992-95; Honorary Manager of the Board of
Directors, 1995-
American Academy for Liberal Education: Founding Director, 1992-
American Museum of Natural History, Board of Directors, 1993-
The Nature Conservancy, Board of Directors, 1993-
Conservation International, Board of Directors, 1997-
Scientific Committee of the Ministry of the Environment, Colombia, 1999-
U.S. National Parks Science Committee, National Park System Advisory Board, 2001-
Awards (Science):
National Medal of Science (1976)
Joseph Priestley Award, Dickinson College (2000)
King Faisal Internation~ Prize for Science, Saudi Arabia (2000)
Presidential Citation, American Psych~ogical Association (1999)
William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement, Sigma Xi (1997)
First recipient, Edward Osborne Wilson Naturalist Award, The American Society of Naturalists (1997)
Certificate of Distinction, Council of the XX International Congress of Entomology (1996)
David Ingalls Award for Excellence, Clev~and Museum of Natural History (1995)
Eminent Ecologist Award, Ecological Society of America (1994)
Henry Shaw Medal, Missouri Botanical Garden (1993)
International Prize for Biology, Government of Japan (1993)
Association of Systematics Collections Award (1991)
Crafoord Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1990)
Prix du Institut de la Vie, Paris (1990)
Revelle Medal, San Diego Natural History Museum (1990)
Benjamin Dann Walsh Award, Illinois Academy of Sciences,Chicago (1989)
Founders' Award, Field Museum, Chicago (1989)
Terrestrial Ecology Prize of the Ecology Institute, Germany (1987)
National Zoological Park Medal in Zoology and Conservation (1987)
L. 0. Howard Distinguished Achievement Award, Entomological Society of America (1985)
Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (1984)
Leidy Medal, Academy of Natural Sciences (1979)
Carr Medal, University of Florida (1979)
Distinguished Service Award, American Institute of Biological Sciences (1976)
Founders' Memorial Award, Entomological Society of America (1973)
Mercer Award, Ecological Society of America (1971)
Cleveland Research Prize, American Association for the Advancement of Science (1968)
Awards (Letters):
Pulitzer Prize, General Non-fiction, On Human Nature (1979)
Pulitzer Prize, General Non-fiction, The Ants (1991)
Lewis Thomas Prize, science and letters, Rockefeller University, 2001
International Award for Letters and Science, Nonino Foundation, Italy (2000)
Clarence Cason Award, University of Alabama, Non-fiction Writing (1999)
Reading for the Environment, Deutsche Umweltstiftung, The Diversity of Life (1998)
Benjamin Franklin Award, Publishers Marketing Association, Naturalist (1995)
Los Ang~es Times Book Prize, Science, Naturalist (1995)
Wildlife Society Book Award, The Diversity of Life (1993)
Hawkins Award, Outstanding Professional or Reference Work, American Publishers
Association, The Ants (1991)
Science Book of the Year, German journal Bild der Wissenschaft, Journey to the Ants (1995)
Phi Beta Kappa Prize, Science, Journey to the Ants (1995)
John Hay Award, Orion Society (1995)
1994 AAAS Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology, American Association
for the Advancement of Science (1995)
1994 Award for Increasing the Public Understanding of Science, Council of Scientific
Society Presidents (1994)
Distinguished Achievement Award, Educational Press Association of America (1994)
Sir Peter Kent Conservation Book Prize, Book Trust, U.K.,The Diversity of Life (1994)
Ingersoll Prize in Scholarly Letters, 1989 Richard Weaver Award, Rockford, Illinois (1989)
Book of the Year Award, Alabama Library Association (1979)
Awards (Conservations):
Thoreau Society Medal (2001)
John C. Phillips Memorial Medal, World Conservation Union (IUCN) (2000)
David B. Stone Award, New England Aquarium (1999)
Scientific Fellow of the Wildlife Conservation Society (1999)
100 Champions of Conservation, 20th Century, National Audubon Society (1998)
Zoological Society of San Diego Conservation Medal (1998)
Earthwatch Global Citizen Award (1997)
Frances K. Hutchinson Medal, Garden Club of America (1997)
National Conservation Achievement Award, National W~dlife Federafion (1992)
Distinguished Service Award, Society for Conservation Biology (1991)
Gold Medal, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF-International) (1990)
Awards and Recognition (General):
Distinguished Service Award, National Association of Biology Teachers (2001)
Lifetime Achievement Award, Time Magazine (2001) William A. Nierenberg Prize for
Science in the Public Interest, Scripps Oceanographic Institution (2001)
Kistler Prize, Foundation for the Future (2000)
Humanist of the Year, American Humanist Association (1999)
Sir George Deacon Medal, Fulbright Association, for interdisciplinary studies (1999)
Benjamin Franklin Medal, American Philosophical Society
(1998)
Caroline P. and Charles W. keland Distinguished Visiting Scholar Award, Birmingham, Alabama (1998)
McGovern Award, Cosmos Club, Washington, DC (1996)
Bradford Washburn Award, Museum of Science, Boston (1996)
America's 25 Most Influential People, TIME (1996)
Laureate, Alabama Academy of Honor, State Legislature (1995)
Phi Beta Kappa Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Harvard College (1995)
University Medal, Complutense University of Madrid (1995)
Levenson Prize (teacher of the year), Harvard College (1992)
Keynote Address, Society of Environmental Journalists, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1995)
Keynote Address, Human Behavior and Evolution Society (1996)
Opening Address, XX International Congress of Entomology, Florence (1996)
Smithsonian Institution 150th Anniversary Lecture at Museum of Natural History, London (1996)
Sermon, Great Issues of the Twenty-first Century, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City (1996)
Opening Lecture, Inauguration of Institute of Virology, Baltimore, Maryland (1996)
Jean Mitchell Watson Lecture, Chicago (1998)
Werner Heisenberg Lecture, Bavarian Academy of Sciences (2000)
Keynote address, First Annual Botanical Symposium, Smithsonian Institution (2001)
Jacob Marsehak Memorial Lecture, University of California, Los Angeles (2001)
John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture, National Council for Science and the Environment (2001) -
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Evolutionary biology; biology of social insects; classification of ants; sociobiology;
biogeography; ethical philosophy
FIELD RESEARCH:
United States, Canada, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama,
Suriname, Brazil, Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Australia, New Guinea, Sri Lanka
ARTICLES, MOSTLY TECHNICAL: about 370CITATION CLASSICS (Current Contents, most cited articles and books):
Brown, W. L. and E. 0. Wilson. 1956. Character displacement. Systematic
Zoology, 5: 49-64.
MacArthur, R. H. and E. 0. Wilson. 1967. The Theory of Island Biogeography.
Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ. 203 pp.
Simberloff, D. S. and E. 0. Wilson. 1969. Experimental zoogeography of islands:
the colonization of empty islands. Ecology, 50(2): 278-296.
Wilson, E. 0. 1971. The Insect Societies. Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press,
Cambridge, MA. 548 pp.
Wilson, E. 0. 1975. Sociohiology: The New Synthesis. Belknap Press of Harvard
Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA. 697 pp. -
BOOKS:
The Theory of Island Biogeography, with Robert H. MacArthur (1967)
A Primer of Population Biology, with William H. Bossert (1971)
The Insect Societies (1971); finalist, National Book Award, 1972;
100 Top Science Books of Century, American Scientist, 1999
Life on Earth, with 6 co-authors (1973); second edition (1978)
Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (1975); finalist, National Book Award, 1976;
the abridged edition (1980)
On Human Nature (1978); Pulitzer Prize, General Non-Fiction, 1979
Caste and Ecology in the Social Insects, with George F. Oster (1978)
Genes, Mind, and Culture, with Charles J. Lumsden (1981)
Promethean Fire, with Charles J. Lumsden (1983)
Biophilia (1984)
Scientific American Readings:
Ecology, Evolution, and Population Biology, editor (1974)
Animal Behavior, co-edited with Thomas Eisner (1975)
The Insects, co-edited with Thomas Eisner (1977)
Biodiversity, editor (1988)
The Ants, with Bert Holldobler (1990); Pulitzer Prize, General Non-Fiction,
1991; No.27 in "100 best nonfiction books written in English during the 20th century" (Modern Library)
Success and Dominance in Ecosystems: The Case of the Social Insects (1990)
The Diversity of Life (1992); finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award, 1993;
finalist, Rhone-Poulene Prize; Wildlife Society Book Award, 1993; 200 outstanding books of the
Century, N.Y. Public Library, 1995; Reading for the Environment, Deutsche Umweltstiftung, book
prize for the German edition, 1998
The Biophilia Hypothesis, co-edited with Stephen R. Kellert
(1993)
Journey to the Ants, with Bert Ho'lldobler (1994); finalist, Rhone-Poulenc Prize
Naturalist (1994); Books to Remember citation, N.Y. Public
Library, 1995; Best 11 Books of 1994, N. Y. Times Book
Review; finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award,
1995; Benjamin Franklin Award, Publishers Marketing
Association, 1995
Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting Our Natural Resources, co-edited
with Marjorie L. Reaka-Kudla and Don E. Wilson (1996)
In Search of Nature (1996)
Consilience:The Unity of Knowledge (1998)
Biological Diversity: The Oldest Human Heritage (New York State Museum, Albany, 1999) -
Ph.D. STUDENTS:
1960: Stuart A. Altmann, "A Field Study of the Sociobiology of Rhesus Monkeys,
Macaca mulatta"
1960: Alastair M. Stuart, "Experimental Studies on Communication in Termites"
1963: William H. Bossert, "Simulation of Character Displacement in Animals"
1964: Robert W. Taylor, "A Monographic Revision of the Ant Genus Ponera
Latreille (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)"
1969: Daniel S. Simberloff, "Experimental Zoogeography of Islands"
1970: Donald J. Farish, "The Grooming Behavior of Hymenoptera (Insecta)"
1970: Robert L. Jeanne, "Social Biology of the Neotropical Wasp Mischocyttarus drewseni"
1970: William B. Kerfoot, "Daily Patterns of Ecological Communities"
1970: Nancy K. Lind, "Studies in the Exocrinology of Ants"
1973: Robert E. Silberglied, "Ultraviolet Reflection of Butterflies and Its Behavioral
Role in the Genus Colias Lepidoptera -Pieridae)"
1975: Robert A. Metcalf, "The Microevolution of Social Behavior in the Social Wasp
Polistesfuscatus"
1976: James D. Weinrich, "Human Reproductive Strategy: The Importance of Income
Unpredictability, and the Evolution of Non-reproduction"
1977: Roger B. Swain, "The Natural History of Monacis, A Genus of Neotropical
Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidac)"
1978: Adrian B. Forsyth, "Studies on the Behavioral Ecology of Polygynous Social Wasps"
1978: Herbert E. Nipson, "Inbreeding in the Ant Species Formica exsectoides"
1983: Barbara L. Thorne, "Population and Reproductive Dynamics of Arboreal
Nasutitermes (Isoptera; Termitidae) in Panama" S
1983: Norman E. Woodley, "The World Genera of Beridinae with a Discussion of Cladistic
Relationships within Stratiomyioidea and Stratiomyidae (Diptera)"
1985: Margaret K. Thayer, "Revision of the Austral Genus Metacorneolabium and
Studies in the Systematics and Biogeography of Omalime Staphylinidae (Coleoptera)"
1986: Scott E. Miller, "Systematics of the Neotropical Moth Family Dalceridae (Lepidoptera)"
1987: Mark W. Moffett, "Sociobiology of the Ants of the Genus Pheidologeton"
1990: David R. Maddison, "Phylogenetic Inference of Historical Pathways and Models
of Evolutionary Change"
1992: Dan Louis Perlman, "Colony Founding among Azteca Ants"
1994: Leeanne E. Tennant, "Ecology of a Facultative Ant-Plant 'Mutualism"'
1995: John E. Tobin, "The Ecology and Diversity of Neotropical Rainforest Canopy Ants"
1996: Gabn~a Chavarna-Villasenor, "Systematics and Behavior of the Neotropical Bumble Bees
(Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus)"
1996: Aniruddh D. Patel, "A Biological Study of the Relationship between Language and Music"
1997: William Piel, "The Taxonomy of Neotropical Orb-Weaving Spiders in the Genus Metepeira,"