Background on Richard Levins
Richard Levins was a Marxist thinker, scholar, and political activist who made unique and substantive contributions in the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, agriculture, economic development, public health, and the philosophy of science. Levins was one of those rare scientists who were able to seamlessly meld scientific inquiry and political activism. The holistic study of complexity was Levins’s central intellectual concern. Here, he developed methodologies that emphasized dialectical contingency and contradiction as well as historicity. In the field of ecology alone, he made highly influential contributions, including metapopulation theory and the community matrix. Levins was active in the Puerto Rican Independence movement; was a trusted ally of the Black Panthers and the Young Lords; was a founder of Science for Vietnam, which grew into Science for the People, and of the New World Agriculture and Ecology Group; and steadfastly supported the Cuban Revolution through decades of scientific and other solidarity work. In addition to his remarkable intellect and political clarity and commitment, he displayed a gentleness in his interpersonal dealings and a sense of humor that delighted his family, friends, and colleagues.
Levins was born June 1, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, to Ruth Sackman and Reuben Levins. He became involved with science and politics from a young age, being introduced to Communism and Marxism by his father and grandmother, and continued his involvement as he enrolled in university. He received his A.B. from Cornell University where he studied agriculture and mathematics.
For Levins, science and politics were always fully integrated. It was through his activism as a young communist that he met his wife, Rosario Morales, a New York born Puerto Rican who later became a prominent writer. Rosario’s papers are archived nearby at Smith College Special Collections in Northampton, Massachusetts. Dick and Rosario were married in 1950. With the outbreak of the Korean War, the young couple faced the possibility that Dick would be jailed for refusing to fight in a war of colonial domination. They decided to move to Puerto Rico to get to know Rosario’s country, and have some time together before a possible separation; however, Dick was never drafted. Blacklisted as a Communist Party member, Dick was under FBI surveillance and unable to find employment in Puerto Rico. At the suggestion of Jane Speed, an Alabama Communist living in Puerto Rico, they bought a farm in Maricao in order to survive the blacklist period. They both became deeply involved in the Puerto Rican independence movement, although Rosario stepped back from active participation because of the unchallenged sexism of the left.
They farmed actively from 1951 to 1956, selling produce and eggs to support themselves. Dick gained experience in agriculture that led to a lifelong interest in agroecology.
While in Puerto Rico, they had three children - Aurora (1954), Ricardo (1956) and Alejandro (1965). Recounting her experience growing up in Maricao, Aurora wrote, "He always tried to answer our questions fully, filled our heads with stories, left the microscope out on the kitchen table for us to investigate the world with, and took our interests seriously.” During the early 1950s Dick secured access to the University of Puerto Rico biology lab and was conducting genetics experiments. One day the Department chair, Gustavo Candelas, told him they would have a faculty position opening. Dick responded that he did not have an advanced degree, and defying the blacklist, Gustavo replied, “Go get one. I’ll hold the job.”
The family moved to New York City and Levins earned his PhD in zoology from Columbia University followed by a post-doc at the University of Rochester. In 1959, he was subpoenaed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He pleaded the Fifth Amendment and walked out.
They returned to Puerto Rico in 1961, with Levins holding a professorship in biology at the University of Puerto Rico until 1967. In 1964, he and Rosario traveled to Cuba, where he was invited to help reorganize the Biology Department of the University of Havana; he returned to teach in the summer of 1968. In 1965, he took part in an anti-war teach-in at the University of Puerto Rico, which resulted in the founding of the influential political journal La Escalera, for which he wrote and served on the editorial board. His 1966 essay “De rebelde a revolucionario” (From Rebel to Revolutionary) is still considered a foundational text of the Puerto Rican left.
In 1966, he was denied tenure due to his political activism, and Rosario wanted to pursue studies in Anthropology, so they moved to Chicago where he taught and she studied at the University of Chicago from 1967 to 1975. In 1975, he accepted a lifetime appointment at Harvard University's School of Public Health. At Harvard, he served as the John Rock Professor of Population Sciences and headed the Human Ecology Program, which he developed. Courses he taught during his time at Harvard included: Foundations in Agricultural Sciences; Human Ecology; Complex Systems Theory; Capitalism, Socialism and Public Health; and Ecology of Health in Development. His teaching methods involved a hands-on approach to learning, with Levins writing, "Biology has become molecular biology and graduates are less likely to tramp through a forest or sniff the earth. They may not even know anything about the animals they study, just the tissue extracted. So throughout my career I have encouraged students to look at such things as connections between human activity and forests, and changes in human population and agriculture."
In addition to teaching, Levins remained involved in research throughout his career. He helped form the Harvard Working Group on New and Resurgent Disease, a project focused on studying the spread and impact of infectious diseases as a result of a changing environment and land use patterns. Other studies looked towards human ecology, sustainable development, population dynamics in multi-species systems, agro-ecology, health inequities, philosophy of science in relation to complex systems, and third-world science development.
Throughout his career, Levins was involved with scientific and political organizations including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Scientific Advisory Council, the National Research Council, New World Agriculture and Ecology Group, Science for the People, International Society for Ecosystem Health, the Movimiento Pro Independencia, and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, among others.
Following a 1970 trip to Hanoi as part of a science delegation, he founded Science for Viet Nam, a group that conducted research on behalf of the Vietnamese, as a counterbalance to US academic involvement in weapons and counterinsurgency research. Projects included work on fast growing varieties of rice that might evade defoliants, microbes that break down Agent Orange in the soil, and the cultivation of tilapia fish in bomb craters to control mosquito borne diseases.
In 1974, he was awarded membership to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences but declined, citing the group's involvement with the United States military during the Vietnam War. He was also awarded the Edinburgh Medal in 1995, the Professional Staff Congress at City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) Research Award, the Arthur Felberbaum Award, the University of Camaguey 40th anniversary medal, and honorary degrees from Harvard University and the University of Havana; and he was one of the few foreigners inducted into the Cuban Academy of Science. A celebrated member of Harvard's faculty, numerous galas were held in his name over the years in celebration of his achievements within academia. As a result of his ecological research with herpetologist Harold Heatwole, a species of lizard native to Puerto Rico, Sphaerodactylus levinsi, was named after him. Along with the academic and political work that he pursued, Levins was a creative writer, producing "Birthday Books" for his children and grandchildren, science fiction and mystery stories and political satire. With his colleagues he also wrote satirical works under the pseudonym "Isadore Nabi," critiquing the politics of science and academia.
Levins lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the rest of his life. After Rosario died in 2011, his daughter Aurora moved in with him until his death in January, 2016 at the age of 85.
