Obituary

E.O. Wilson, Known as ‘Father of Biodiversity,’ Dies at 92

  • Authority on ants and ‘little things that run the world’
  • Warned that half of plant and insect species face extinction

E.O. Wilson in his office at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2012.

Photographer: Rick Friedman/Corbis News via Getty Images 

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E.O. Wilson, the former Harvard University biologist and Pulitzer Prize winner whose study of ants and human behavior made him one of the world’s most influential scientists and prompted his calls for action to protect millions of species on the planet, has died. He was 92.

He died on Sunday in Burlington, Massachusetts, the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation said on its website. No cause was given. Wilson was a resident of nearby Lexington, Massachusetts.

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E.O. Wilson, Known as ‘Father of Biodiversity,’ Dies at 92