Prather Lecture: Edward O. Wilson on "The Superorganism" April 6, 2010

The annual John M. Prather Lectures in Biology will be presented by Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino Research Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology at Harvard, and one of the world’s leading voices for conservation of global biodiversity.

Wilson is one of the most influential and accomplished biologists of the last half-century. He is known for his groundbreaking research on the biology and behavior of ants, as well as his celebrated work in such broad fields as island biogeography, sociobiology, and conservation biology. He is the author of two Pulitzer Prize-winning books, On Human Nature (1978) and The Ants (1990, with Bert Hölldobler), as well as the recipient of many fellowships, honors, and awards.

The study of insect societies is today one of the fastest growing major branches of evolutionary biology. It has revealed a great deal about the general principles of the origin and evolution of advanced social behavior, and has shed light on the enormous ecological success of the social insects (with ants and termites making up over half of the insect biomass around the world). The evolution from organism to superorganism has been the major transition between levels of biological organization, easiest to penetrate and understand.

For more information on the Prather Lecture Series, please call 617.495.5891

The John M. Prather Lectures in Biology were founded in 1939 by a bequest of $25,000 from John McClellan Prather, A.B. in 1894. The annual income of the fund is to be used to pay for the services of eminent lecturers on botany and zoology alternatively. The Prather Lecture Series on Biology is sponsored by the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and the Science Center Lecture Series.

Official Website: http://golgi.harvard.edu/NewsEvents/News/prather5_3-3-10.html