Scientist: E. O. Wilson: A Life in Nature - Paperback

by Richard Rhodes (Author)

A masterful and timely biography of the hugely influential biologist and naturalist E. O. Wilson, one of the most ground-breaking and controversial scientists of our time--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb

Few biologists have been as productive, ground-breaking, or controversial as Edward Osborne Wilson. At 92 years old, he may be the most eminent American scientist in any field today. Fascinated from an early age by the natural world in general and ants in particular, his field work on them and on all social insects has vastly expanded our knowledge of their many species and fascinating ways of being. This work led to his 1975 book Sociobiology, which created an intellectual firestorm with his contention that all animal behavior, including that of humans, is governed by the laws of evolution and genetics.

Wilson has since become a leading voice on the crucial importance of biodiversity and has worked tirelessly to synthesize science and the humanities in a fruitful way. A towering figure in his own right, Richard Rhodes has had complete and unfettered access to Wilson, his associates, and his papers in writing this book. The result is one of the most accomplished, anticipated and urgently necessary scientific biographies in years.

Author Biography

RICHARD RHODES is the author of twenty-six books including The Making of the Atomic Bomb, which won the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He graduated from Yale University and has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, and a host and correspondent for documentaries on American public television. He lives outside San Francisco with his wife, Dr. Ginger Rhodes, a clinical psychologist.