Last night on the PBS program NOVA (One of my all time favorite television programs) the subject was Edward O. Wilson. The title of the program was “Lord of the Ants.”
Wilson is scientist from Harvard who gained fame for his study of ants and his theories of animal behavior that he derived from his observation of animals in nature. He is the founder of the field of Sociobiology. My first exposure to him was through his book Consilience, where he discusses methods used to unite the sciences with the humanities. He defines Consilience, as the synthesis of knowledge from varied fields of human endeavor. He is the consummate big picture thinker. The program was fascinating and very thought provoking. He is definitely someone I hope to be able to meet sometime. His current project is a huge collaborative effort to compile an Encyclopedia of Life to catalog all the living species on earth. The plan is to have one page per species. The estimate is that there will be 1.8 million entries. At age 78 he has a passion for learning and teaching that is inspirational. This speaks to the point I was making on yesterday’s blog about the younger generations. He has every right to act as if he knows it all, but he is driven to learn, share ideas and educate. He is a great role model for us all.
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