Scientist

Richard Rhodes is the author or editor of 22 books, including The Twilight of the Bomb, the last volume in a quartet about nuclear history. The first, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, won the Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, and a National Book Critics Circle Award.  He has received numerous fellowships for research and writing, including grants from the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He has been a visiting scholar at Harvard and MIT and a host and correspondent for documentaries on public television's Frontline and American Experience series. An affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University, he lectures frequently to audiences in the United States and abroad.

It has been an honor to know Ed Wilson. His life and work have inspired so many scientist and layperson, alike. Richard Rhodes s Scientist is a wonderful introduction to one of the great thinkers and observers of our age.
Paul Simon

An impressive account of one of the 20th century s most prominent biologists, for whom the natural world is a sanctuary and a realm of boundless adventure; the fewer the people in it, the better.
The New York Times Book Review, "5 New Biographies To Read This Season"

Wilson s life and substantial accomplishments many have called him the natural heir to Darwin are ripe topics for exploration, and particularly important as we continue to confront the climate crisis effects on biodiversity."
Lit Hub, "Most Anticipated Books of 2021"

Pulitzer winner Rhodes (The Making of the Atomic Bomb) does justice to one of the...greatest biologists of the twentieth century in this brilliant biography Rhodes depicts Wilson as a tireless field scientist at a time when the general belief was that the future of biological discoveries was in the laboratory, and as a proponent who popularized sociobiology, and as a Pulitzer-winner for his books The Ants and On Human Nature. The author leaves no doubt as to Wilson s broad impact on science and the public s perceptions of nature, without ever veering into hagiography. This is a must-read.
Publishers Weekly, starred review

Esteemed biographer and historian Rhodes warmly portrays Wilson as an ambitious and accomplished biologist, a passionate and influential advocate for identifying all life forms and preserving half of Earth as natural habitat, and a prolific, Pulitzer Prize winning writer Rhodes also illuminates Wilson's insights into biodiversity, biophilia, altruism, and the nature of science His many admirable attributes include a genuine inquisitiveness, sense of wonder, and deep concern for all life, from insects to people, and our planet.