"E.O. Wilson, an ant expert and the greatest environmental scientist of our time" It sure would be nice if Slate could back this up with some evidence. There is plenty to suggest that Wilson's most notable works are vastly overreaching, hardly something that would make him the greatest enviromental scientist of our time.

The term "environmental science" itself is a vague catch-all category. Climatologist James Hansen and naturalist E.O. Wilson are both "environmental scientists" but their respective disciplines have practically nothing in common.

Perhaps Constance Casey should have called E.O. Wilson the greatest naturalist of our time. That statement is defensible.

(In defense of Wilson, another naturalist was accused of vastly overreaching. His name was Charles Darwin. But only time will tell if Wilson's reputation is deserved.)

That's exactly why you don't casually apply that sobriquet lightly. Time, a great deal of time, is a necessary recipie for titles of that nature.