A Live Conversation with World-Renowned Biologist/Conservationist
E. O. Wilson

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Thursday, August 28, 2003
2:00 p.m.

At the Exploratorium in the Phyllis C. Wattis Webcast Studio

Join us for a conversation with world-renowned Harvard University biologist and conservationist E. O. Wilson. Dr. Wilson was first known for his groundbreaking research on ants and social behavior, and communication in insects. For the last two decades, his work has expanded into conservation. In 1988, he introduced the term biodiversity to describe the interlocking dependence and diversity of organisms in sustaining life in biological communities.

Winner of two Pulitzer prizes for his books, Dr. Wilson has received some seventy-five awards for his contributions to science and humanity. In this interactive Webcast, we’ll talk with Professor Wilson about his scientific work and an upcoming film project he’s hosting about conservation and the environment. Audience members—online (via via e-mail sent to live@exploratorium.edu ) and at the Exploratorium—will have the opportunity to ask Dr. Wilson questions.

Biography
E. O. Wilson is Pellegrino University Research Professor Emeritus at Harvard and a pre-eminent biological theorist. He earned B.S. and M.A. degrees in biology from the University of Alabama, and a Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University.

He joined the Harvard faculty in 1956, and distinguished himself over the next four decades as a professor of zoology, curator in entomology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and researcher. His accomplishments include pioneering work on chemical communication in the 1950s to 1970s, featuring a first comprehensive account of pheromones in ants, and (with William H. Bossert) a first evolutionary analysis of the physical and chemical properties of pheromones; the creation (with Robert H. MacArthur) of the theory of biogeography, a basic part of modern ecology and conservation biology; the creation of the discipline of sociobiology, in 1975; the first modern syntheses of knowledge of social insects (1971) and (with Bert Hölldobler) of ants in particular, in 1990.

He also edited the volume Biodiversity, which in 1988 introduced the term and launched worldwide attention to the subject. In 1984, with Biophilia, he introduced the concept of a genetically based tendency to affiliate and bond with parts of the natural world. His book The Diversity of Life (1992), which brought together knowledge of the magnitude of biodiversity and the threats to it, had a major public impact.

Today, he continues entomological and environmental research at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Two of his twenty-one books have been awarded Pulitzer prizes: On Human Nature (1978) and The Ants (1990, co-authored with Bert Hölldobler). In addition to his books, Dr. Wilson has written over 370 articles, most for scientific journals.