Paul R. Ehrlich Scientist

Paul Ralph Ehrlich (born May 29, 1932) is an American biologist and educator who is the Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University and president of Stanford's Center for Conservation Biology. By training he is an entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera (butterflies), and published a landmark paper about the evolution of plants and insects. He is also a prominent ecologist and demographer. Ehrlich is best known for his dire warnings about population growth and limited resources. Ehrlich became well-known after publication of his controversial 1968 book The Population Bomb. In years since, some of his predictions have developed in less alarming ways than originally forecast, with population growth rates slowing (though annual net growth is still very high) and new technologies of food production based on the use of fossil fuels for fertilizer, harvesting and transport. Ehrlich's theories have been widely criticized by those who focus on anthropocentric measures of progress, such as GDP. He stands by his general thesis that the human population is too large and is a direct threat to human survival and the environment of the planet.