2018/08/02 by Alan G. Gross · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution
paper · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190637774.003.0017
openalex publication_date 2018/08/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Sitting in the same rain forest where Darwin penned these words more than a century earlier, E. O. Wilson shares the identical “cathedral feeling,” the identical sense of the biological sublime evoked by the diversity of the biosphere: “Hold[ing] still for long intervals to study a few centimeters of tree trunk or ground, [and] finding some new organism at each shift in focus.” It is a feeling for his fellow creatures exhibited in every aspect of E. O. Wilson’s life: his efforts to understand ant society, his discovery of sociobiology as means of understanding all societies, and, finally, his efforts to preserve the diversity of the biosphere in which all societies must find their place. For Wilson, environmental ethics flows naturally from the cathedral feeling he shares with Darwin, their sense of the biological sublime. It is 1969 and there is a knock on Wilson’s office door. It signals the arrival a talented German entomologist, Bert Hölldobler, invited to Harvard for an extended stay. The two hit it off almost immediately; eventually, Hölldobler returns to Harvard as a full professor. While his command of English improves, his German accent never entirely disappears, an accent, Wilson feels, that lends weight to his lectures: his is the authentic voice of German science. Friends and collaborators, the two produce a stream of science that culminates in the publication of The Ants. The award of the Pulitzer for this book is Wilson’s opportunity simultaneously to signal and make light of his achievements. The book “weighed 7.5 pounds, fulfilling my criterion of a magnum opus—a book when dropped from a three-story building is big enough to kill a man.” The award is also an opportunity to express his gratitude to the institution that continued to nurture his talent. At the monthly college meeting, he recalls, “I stood and basked in the applause of the Harvard faculty. Bless my soul, the Harvard faculty. Where could I go from here but down.” By this time, however, his co-author has left Harvard. The daily drudgery of turning out grant proposals has taken its toll.