Wish I knew. Possibly because he looks like somebody's grandmother. Seriously.

His superpower appears to have been animal observation and comprehension, since he was into watching and trying to understand insects even as a boy- he got punished for wearing out his trouser knees spending too much time kneeling by anthills. When he grew up he had depression issues and took up beekeeping to deal with them, and went right back to the insect observation thing, at which point he designed the hive that makes modern agriculture and beekeeping as we know it possible. And then wrote a fascinating book which is available on Project Gutenberg, The Hive and the Honey-Bee.

Gotta love this man. Seriously.