E. O. Wilson, or Edward Osborne Wilson, was born 1929 in
Birmingham, Alabama, and is an entomologist and biologist known
for his work on evolution and sociobiology. He received his PhD
from Harvard. Wilson's specialty is ants, in particular their
use of pheromones for communication. He is also famous for
starting the sociobiology debate when he wrote Sociobiology: The
New Synthesis in 1975. Wilson has argued that the preservation
of the gene, rather than the individual, is the focus of
evolution (a theme explored in more detail by Richard Dawkins'
The Selfish Gene). Wilson has also studied the mass extinctions
of the 20th century and their relationship to modern society.
Wilson explains, "Now when you cut a forest, an ancient forest
in particular, you are not just removing a lot of big trees and
a few birds fluttering around in the canopy. You are drastically
imperiling a vast array of species within a few square miles of
you. The number of these species may go to tens of thousands.
Many of them are still unk