Edward Osborne Wilson is an American biologist, researcher, theorist, naturalist and author. His biological specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants, on which he is considered to be the world's leading expert. Wilson was born on June 10, 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Wilson received his early training in biology at the University of Alabama. After receiving a doctorate in biology at Harvard University in 1955, he was a member of Harvard’s biology and zoology faculties from 1956 to 1976. At Harvard he was later Frank B. Baird Professor of Science (1976–94), Mellon Professor of the Sciences (1990–93), and Pellegrino University Professor. In addition, Wilson served as curator in entomology at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology (1973–97). 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. He received the National Medal Of Science in 1976.