Pulitzer Prize winner to dedicate nature center
SANTA ROSA BEACH — Edward O. Wilson is to biology what Carl Sagan was to astronomy, a renowned scientist who morphs the dry language of research into wonder about nature.
For those unable to recall Carl Sagan, maybe a different comparison would help. This one was offered by M.C. Davis, owner of Nokuse Plantation, a large, private nature preserve in Walton County.
Wilson is “to conservation what Tiger Woods is to golf,” Davis said.
The globe-trotting Harvard University professor is here to dedicate Nokuse’s nature education center, which Davis named in Wilson’s honor.
While in the area, the twotime Pulitzer Prize winner for non-fiction will present an invitation-only lecture Tuesday to some 250 fellow scientists, educators, politicians and others at South Walton High School.
Biodiversity in Northwest Florida and South Alabama is the topic, but Davis hopes Wilson will also offer his views on nature and man’s link to it.
Davis has known of Wilson for some time, but met him only a few years ago.
The man in person is humble but charismatic, he said.
Add in the biologist’s accumulated experiences, research — he’s a staunch advocate of the theory of evolution — and world travel, and the sum is a rarity, Davis said.
“It’s one thing to have that wisdom,” he said. “It’s another thing to be able to communicate it.”