E. O. Wilson looking at Ants, Fort Morgan Ferry, Gulf Shores

Asking big questions has been at the heart of Edward O. Wilson’s work since, as a young teen, he began to study ants in the vacant lot next to his family home on Charleston Street in Mobile. Over the last seven decades, he has scrutinized the living creatures, plants, and processes of the Earth and managed to weave together nothing less than a new grand narrative about life on this planet. Alex Harris