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In collaboration with the "father of biodiversity," Edward O. Wilson and Neil Patterson Productions, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is producing "Naturalist: A window into the mind of an inspirational biologist, E.O.Wilson"

Directed by David Dugan and narrated by Harrison Ford, "Naturalist" chronicles the life of evolutionary biologist and environmentalist, E.O. Wilson. The documentary examines his childhood in a Southern Baptist family to his becoming an influential thinker at the world stage.

Known best for his studies on ants, the evolutionary forces of ants that have led workers to forage and soldiers to fight, Wilson proposed the new discipline sociobiology. The concept and title of his 1975 book explained the genetic origins of social behaviour from ants to primates. At the last minute, he decided to add a final chapter on humans that strayed from socio-biology into sociology. The result was uproar – a nature versus nurture debate – that placed Wilson on the front cover of Time magazine. Even within his own Harvard faculty, the response was venomous and vitriolic.

Undeterred, Wilson went on to confront these demons in On Human Nature which paved the way for a new branch of science: evolutionary psychology. And then, in the grandest synthesis of all, he wrote Consilience, his masterpiece that unified all knowledge – from sociology and economics - to the arts and religion –all under the banner of science.

Two Pulitzer Prizes later, Wilson has emerged as a highly influential and acclaimed scientist. He decided to use this platform to publicise his concerns about the looming environmental catastrophe in "Natural."

Major funding provided by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.

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