American scientist Edward Osborne Wilson, “Darwin’s natural heir,” died at the age of 92

The great American scientist EO Wilson, internationally renowned ant expert named “Darwin’s natural heir“He died at the age of 92, as announced by the foundation that bears his name.

Edward Osborne Wilson, who taught in the Harvard University for a long time, he wrote dozens of books, two of which won him prizes Pulitzer: the first in 1978 for “On human nature”, the second in 1990 for “The ants”.

The scientist, who died in Massachusetts on Sunday, “he dedicated his life to studying the natural world and inspiring others to care for it as he did,” the foundation noted.

Time magazine highlighted that he had “one of the great scientific careers of the 20th century” by highlighting his work on mapping the social behavior of ants, through which he showed that their colonies communicated through a system of pheromones.

But who is considered the founding father of sociobiology also generated a wave of criticism at the time after suggesting in one of his books that humans behave largely according to principles written in their genes.

The entomologist is still highly respected. The scientist Steven Pinker mourned the death of a “great scientist” on Monday. “We disagreed on some things, but that did not affect his generosity and willingness to talk,” he tweeted.