Garrett Hardin is an ecologist, best known for his controversial beliefs about population control. Hardin became famous through his writing, specifically through a 1968 essay, "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science, 162, now reprinted in over 100 anthologies and widely accepted as a fundamental contribution to ecology, population theory, economics and political science. Hardin's work, especially that on population, immigration, and abortion, has had many practical effects on public politics and debate, as well as on biological science itself. Since his retirement from the Santa Barbara campus in 1978, he has devoted himself to writing and speaking.