However, he said he was “tickled” by Time’s mention of one of his “real heroes,” E.O. Wilson.

“Just to see myself mentioned in the same breath as Ed was a momentary pleasure,” he said.

Wilson, who—according to Time—has had “one of the great careers in 20th century science,” was honored for his lifetime achievements.

Wilson began his career at Harvard as an assistant professor in the late 1950s and went on to propose and often prove many radical ideas, including showing that fire ants used pheromones as a form of communication.

His controversial 1975 book, “Sociobiology: The New Synthesis,” explained social structures in terms of evolution for both animals and humans.

In 1992, Wilson predicted in his book “The Diversity of Life” that 30 to 50 percent of all species would be extinct by the middle of the 21st century. His warnings were initially criticized but eventually were supported with research.

Wilson’s latest book, “Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge,” calls for “a convergence of thought and ethics comparable to the Age of Enlightenment during the 17th and 18h centuries,” wrote paleontologist Michael J. Novacek in Wilson’s Time profile.

Novacek, the provost and curator of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, wrote that “Wilson has produced a scientific masterpiece in nearly every decade of his life.”