Edward Osborne Wilson ForMemRS (June 10, 1929 – December 26, 2021) was an American biologist, naturalist, ecologist, and entomologist known for developing the field of sociobiology.

At age seven, he was partially blinded in a fishing accident; due to his reduced sight, Wilson resolved to study entomology.

[9] Examinations of his letters after his death revealed that he had supported the psychologist J. Philippe Rushton, whose work on race and intelligence is widely regarded by the scientific community as deeply flawed and racist.

He was the only child of Inez Linnette Freeman and Edward Osborne Wilson Sr.[12] According to his autobiography, Naturalist, he grew up in various towns in the Southern United States which included Mobile, Decatur, and Pensacola.

At age 18, intent on becoming an entomologist, he began by collecting flies, but the shortage of insect pins during World War II caused him to switch to ants, which could be stored in vials.

With the encouragement of Marion R. Smith, a myrmecologist from the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, Wilson began a survey of all the ants of Alabama.

[14] He was concerned that he might not be able to afford to go to a university, and he tried to enlist in the United States Army, intending to earn U.S. government financial support for his education.

He began as an ant taxonomist and worked on understanding their microevolution, specifically how they developed into new species by escaping environmental disadvantages and moving into new habitats.

[25] In 1975, he published the book Sociobiology: The New Synthesis applying his theories of insect behavior to vertebrates, and in the last chapter, to humans.

"[30][31][32] In a PBS interview, David Attenborough described Wilson as "a magic name to many of us working in the natural world, for two reasons.

[33] Although evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins defended Wilson during the so-called "sociobiology debate",[34] a disagreement between them arose over the theory of evolution.

[9][35] The disagreement began in 2012 when Dawkins wrote a critical review of Wilson's book The Social Conquest of Earth in Prospect Magazine.

[36][37] Wilson responded in the same magazine and wrote that Dawkins made "little connection to the part he criticizes" and accused him of engaging in rhetoric.

[35] Dawkins responded in a tweet: "I greatly admire EO Wilson & his huge contributions to entomology, ecology, biogeography, conservation, etc.

[39] Dawkins wrote that he stands by his critical review and doesn't regret "its outspoken tone", but noted that he also stood by his "profound admiration for Professor Wilson and his life work".

[40] Following his death, several articles were published discussing the discrepancy between Wilson's legacy as a champion of biogeography and conservation biology and his support of scientific racist pseudoscientist J. Philippe Rushton over several years.

Wilson also remarked that the reason Rushton's ideologies were not more widely supported is because of the "... fear of being called racist, which is virtually a death sentence in American academia if taken seriously.

[46] He argued that all animal behavior, including that of humans, is the product of heredity, environmental stimuli, and past experiences, and that free will is an illusion.

[52] Several of Wilson's colleagues at Harvard,[53] such as Richard Lewontin and Stephen Jay Gould, both members of the Group, were strongly opposed.

In response, Wilson produced a discussion article entitled "Academic Vigilantism and the Political Significance of Sociobiology" in BioScience.

[62][59] Philosopher Mary Midgley encountered Sociobiology in the process of writing Beast and Man (1979)[63] and significantly rewrote the book to offer a critique of Wilson's views.

Midgley praised the book for the study of animal behavior, clarity, scholarship, and encyclopedic scope, but extensively critiqued Wilson for conceptual confusion, scientism, and anthropomorphism of genetics.

[71] Wilson coined the phrase scientific humanism as "the only worldview compatible with science's growing knowledge of the real world and the laws of nature".

[73] On the question of God, Wilson described his position as "provisional deism"[74] and explicitly denied the label of "atheist", preferring "agnostic".

[75] He explained his faith as a trajectory away from traditional beliefs: "I drifted away from the church, not definitively agnostic or atheistic, just Baptist & Christian no more.

[83] In 2011, Wilson led scientific expeditions to the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique and the archipelagos of Vanuatu and New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific.

[89] Wilson was instrumental in launching the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL)[90] initiative with the goal of creating a global database to include information on the 1.9 million species recognized by science.

This open and searchable digital repository for organism traits, measurements, interactions and other data has more than 300 international partners and countless scientists providing global users' access to knowledge of life on Earth.

[91][92] In 1996, Wilson officially retired from Harvard University, where he continued to hold the positions of Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology.

O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and is an "independent foundation" at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University.