Naomi Pierce

Naomi E. Pierce
Pierce speaking in India in 2018
Born1954 (age 71–72)
EducationYale University, Harvard University
Known forResearch on butterfly evolution, plant–herbivore coevolution, and ant–butterfly interactions
SpouseAndrew Berry
AwardsMacArthur Fellowship (1988)
International Prize for Biology (2019)
National Academy of Sciences (elected 2023)
Lifetime Achievement Award (2025)
Scientific career
FieldsEntomology, evolutionary biology
WorkplacesHarvard University

Naomi E. Pierce (born 1954) is an American entomologist and evolutionary biologist who currently serves as the Sidney A. and John. H. Hessel Professor of Biology at Harvard University. She studies plant-herbivore coevolution and is a world authority on butterflies.

Education

Pierce earned her B.S. in Biology at Yale in 1976. She earned her Ph.D. in Biology at Harvard in 1983. The same year, Pierce became a Fulbright Scholar in Zoology from Harvard University to Griffith University. Five years later, she was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1988 with Ecology and Evolutionary/Environmental Biology as area of focus.

Career

Pierce is the Hessel Professor of Biology and Curator of Lepidoptera in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.

From 1984 to 1986, Pierce served as a Research Lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford and a NATO Research Fellow at Oxford's Department of Zoology. In 1986, she moved to Princeton University as Assistant until 1989, when she served as an Associate Professor of Biology for one year. In 1991, Pierce was appointed Hessel Professor and Curator of Lepidoptera at Harvard University.

The Pierce Lab studies topics including the evolution of symbioses, phylogeny, biogeography, systematics, plant-insect-microbe interactions, and biodiversity and life history evolution of insects. Pierce is known for her research on the relationship between lycaenid butterfly larvae and ants, as well as the genetic trends within the species, in order to understand the process of evolution. Pierce and collaborators Corrie Moreau and Charles D. Bell were the first to establish the origin of ants at 140 to 168 million years ago using molecular sequence data, 40 million years older than previous estimates.

In 2011, Pierce contributed to research understanding butterfly evolution through molecular phylogenetic studies. The study provided evidence supporting a hypothesis proposed by novelist and lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov regarding the evolutionary relationships of certain butterfly lineages in America. Specifically the New World blue butterflies, suggesting that their ancestors colonized America from Asia through a series of migration and diverse evolutionary processes through multiple lineages.

In 2018, the entomopathogenic fungus Ophiocordyceps naomipierceae was named in Pierce's honor.

Personal life

She is married to evolutionary biologist and historian of science Andrew Berry (biologist), and they have twin children.

Selected awards

References

  1. ↑ "Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University". May 4, 2026.
  2. ↑ De Cuevas, John (July–August 2001). "A Life with Lycaenids". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Fulbright Scholars who have received the Mac Arthur Fellowship". Archived from the original on February 2, 2025. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Naomi Pierce - MacArthur Foundation". www.macfound.org. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  5. ↑ Yoon, Carol Kaesuk (June 17, 2007). "Charles Lee Remington, Butterfly Expert, Dies at 85". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ Stevens, William K. (August 6, 1991). "Seduced by Siren Song of Science". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Naomi Pierce". Pierce Lab. Harvard Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  8. 1 2 Pierce Laboratory and the history of the two species.
  9. ↑ "Ancient Ants Arose 140-168 Million Years Ago; Insects Needed Flowering Plants To Flourish". Science Daily. April 7, 2006. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  10. ↑ N; P; R; S; t; a; f; f (January 30, 2011). "'Lolita' Author Nabokov Was Right About Butterflies". NPR. Retrieved October 8, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Nabokov's Blues". Vladimir Nabokov: Lepidopterist - Online exhibitions across Cornell University Library. April 4, 2024. Retrieved October 8, 2026.
  12. ↑ Araújo, João Paulo Machado; Evans, H.C.; Kepler, R.; Hughes, D.P. (2018). "Zombie-ant fungi across continents: 15 new species and new combinations within Ophiocordyceps. I. Myrmecophilous hirsutelloid species". Studies in Mycology. 90: 1–42. doi:10.1016/j.simyco.2017.12.002. PMC 6002356. PMID 29910522.
  13. ↑ "Naomi Pierce awarded Lifetime Achievement Award | Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology". www.oeb.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on June 9, 2025. Retrieved October 8, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Naomi Pierce elected to the National Academy of Sciences". mcz.harvard.edu. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  15. ↑ "2023 NAS Election". Archived from the original on May 2, 2023.
  16. ↑ "The 35th (2019) International Prize for Biology is awarded to Dr. Naomi Ellen Pierce". Japan Society for Promotsion of Science. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Naomi E. Pierce". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Naomi Pierce Elected 2018 Class Member of American Academy of Arts & Sciences". oeb.harvard.edu. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Naomi E. Pierce, ESA Fellow (2011) | Entomological Society of America". www.entsoc.org. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  20. ↑ "AAAS selects four faculty members as fellows". Harvard Gazette. November 1, 2007. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Naomi E. Pierce". oeb.harvard.edu. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  22. ↑ "Naomi Pierce". www.macfound.org. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  23. ↑ "Naomi Pierce | Fulbright Scholar Program". fulbrightscholars.org. Retrieved May 9, 2023.