Credit: Mark Mahaney/Redux/eyevine Paul R. Ehrlich’s book The Population Bomb (1968), written with his wife Anne, made him one of the most influential, if controversial, scientists of the twentieth century. In it, he alerted the public to the possible problems of global overpopulation, including the depletion of natural resources and the deterioration of the environmental systems that support humanity. But his overemphasis on population growth at the expense of other factors also influenced oppressive policies in some of the world’s most populous countries, and has not proved to be justified. Ehrlich has died, aged 93. Ehrlich was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended Columbia High School, a highly rated state school in Maplewood, New Jersey. Butterflies were the childhood passion that drove him into science. Sure of this interest, at 15 years old, he joined the US-based Lepidopterists’ Society.…