Biologist, naturalist and author Edward O. Wilson, the so-called “modern Darwin”, died Sunday at the age of 92 in Massachusetts, his foundation announced.
Along with the British naturalist David Attenborough, Wilson is considered one of the world’s leading figures in natural history and environmental protection.
Edward O. Wilson’s Half-Earth Project proposes protecting half of the planet’s soils and waters so that there are enough diverse and interconnected ecosystems to reverse the rate of species extinction, which has been evolving for an unprecedented 10 million years. rhythm.
The United Nations has called on countries to commit to conserving 30% of its land and water – thus doubling the area currently under some form of protection – by 2030, a goal known as “30 to 30” and is partly inspired by Edward O. Wilson.
Born in Alabama, he began his career as an entomologist at the age of 10, spending hours in the woods collecting bugs and butterflies.
He continued for 70 years as a scientist and professor at Harvard University. Throughout his career, Wilson discovered more than 400 species of ants. He has said that one of his greatest achievements was the study of how ants communicate their danger and food paths, for example by secreting chemicals.
Edward O. Wilson provoked a war in 1975 with the publication of his book Sociobiology: the New Synthesis. At the time, some scientists accused him of arguing that human behaviors such as altruism and hostility are dictated by genes, or “nature,” rather than environmental conditions and upbringing. His critics at the time said that his theory had traces of eugenics.
He lived in a retired community in the northeastern United States and recently published the latest in a long line of biodiversity books.
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