From the Archives: E. O. Wilson

City Arts & Lectures

This week, we reach into the City Arts & Lectures archives for a conversation with E. O. Wilson. The biologist and author was the world’s leading authority on ants – but he was also often referred to as “the father of biodiversity”. In addition to significant scientific research, Wilson made major contributions to the public’s understanding of larger issues of science, nature, and conservation. He won the Pulitzer Price twice, for his books “The Ants” and “On Human Nature”. His other popular works include “Letters to a Young Scientist” and “The Meaning of Human Existence”.

Wilson was a professor at Harvard University and also taught at Duke University, which houses the E. O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. E. O. Wilson died on December 26, 2021, at the age of 92.

In this program, recorded on October 10, 2006, he talks with Roy Eisenhardt about his newly published book “The Creation: A Meeting of Science and Religion”. In it, Wilson appeals for the combined efforts of scientific, political, and religious leaders to help prevent species extinction, save biological diversity, and be good stewards of the Earth.