Edward O. Wilson, the American biologist and leading authority on ants whose study of tiny insects led to some of the biggest, most provocative scientific ideas of the 20th century—notably that a biological basis to human behavior exists and that preserving biodiversity is key to the planet’s survival—died on December 26 in Burlington, Massachusetts, according to a statement from the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. He was 92.

Called “one of the foremost naturalists in both science and literature” by the National Geographic Society, which awarded him its Hubbard Medal in 2013, and “Darwin‘s natural heir” by others, Wilson was a soft-spoken Southern gentleman who did his seminal work at Harvard University, yet