20th-21st Century · Entomology, Sociobiology, Conservation Biology
Edward O. Wilson (1929–2021) was an American biologist, naturalist, and writer, renowned as the world's leading authority on ants (myrmecology). He pioneered the fields of sociobiology—the study of the biological basis of social behavior—and island biogeography, which became foundational for modern conservation biology. A prolific author and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, he spent most of his career at Harvard University, later becoming a prominent advocate for biodiversity and the reconciliation of science and the humanities.