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* Kistler Prize * Nierenberg Prize * BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology * International Cosmos Prize }} | signature = | footnotes = }} Edward Osborne Wilson (born June 10, 1929) is an American biologist, researcher (sociobiology, biodiversity, island biogeography), theorist (consilience, biophilia), naturalist (conservationist) and author. His biological specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants, on which he is considered to be the world's leading expert. Wilson is known for his scientific career, his role as "the father of sociobiology" and "the father of biodiversity", his environmental advocacy, and his secular-humanist and deist ideas pertaining to religious and ethical matters. Among his greatest contributions to ecological theory is the theory of island biogeography, which he developed in collaboration with the mathematical ecologist Robert MacArthur, and which is seen as the foundation of the development of conservation area design, as well as the unified neutral theory of biodiversity of Stephen Hubbell. Wilson is (2014) the Pellegrino University Research Professor, Emeritus in Entomology for the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, a lecturer at Duke University, and a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He is a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.〔("E.O. Wilson Profile" ) – Comprehensive list of Degrees, Awards and Positions〕 He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction (for ''On Human Nature'' in 1979, and ''The Ants'' in 1991) and a New York Times bestseller for ''The Social Conquest of Earth'', ''Letters to a Young Scientist'',〔 and ''The Meaning of Human Existence''. ==Early life== Wilson was born in Birmingham, Alabama. According to his autobiography ''Naturalist'', he grew up mostly around Washington, D.C. and in the countryside around Mobile, Alabama.〔Edward O. Wilson – Naturalist, Island Press; (April 24, 2006), ISBN 1-59726-088-6〕 From an early age, he was interested in natural history. His parents, Edward and Inez Wilson, divorced when he was seven. The young naturalist grew up in several cities and towns, moving around with his father and his stepmother. In the same year that his parents divorced, Wilson blinded himself in one eye in a fishing accident. He suffered for hours, but he continued fishing.〔 He did not complain because he was anxious to stay outdoors. He never went in for medical treatment.〔 Several months later, his right pupil clouded over with a cataract.〔 He was admitted to Pensacola Hospital to have the lens removed.〔 Wilson writes, in his autobiography, that the "surgery was a terrifying () century ordeal".〔 Wilson was left with full sight in his left eye, with a vision of 20/10.〔 The 20/10 vision prompted him to focus on "little things": "I noticed butterflies and ants more than other kids did, and took an interest in them automatically." Although he had lost his stereoscopy, he could see fine print and the hairs on the bodies of small insects.〔 His reduced ability to observe mammals and birds led him to concentrate on insects. At nine, Wilson undertook his first expeditions at the Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC. He began to collect insects and he gained a passion for butterflies. He would capture them using nets made with brooms, coat hangers, and cheesecloth bags.〔 Going on these expeditions led to Wilson's fascination with ants. He describes in his autobiography how one day he pulled the bark of a rotting tree away and discovered citronella ants underneath.〔 The worker ants he found were "short, fat, brilliant yellow, and emitted a strong lemony odor".〔 Wilson said the event left a "vivid and lasting impression on ()".〔 He also earned the Eagle Scout award and served as Nature Director of his Boy Scout summer camp. At the age of 18, intent on becoming an entomologist, he began by collecting flies, but the shortage of insect pins caused by World War II caused him to switch to ants, which could be stored in vials. With the encouragement of Marion R. Smith, a myrmecologist from the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, Wilson began a survey of all the ants of Alabama. This study led him to report the first colony of fire ants in the US, near the port of Mobile.〔first-hand account, Smithsonian Institution talk, April 22, 2010〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「E. O. Wilson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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