![]() ![]() In his letter, Wallace described essentially the same mechanism. After many years’ research, Darwin had spent the last four years working on his long-planned ‘big book’ on species, having twenty years earlier arrived at the idea of natural selection as a mechanism for evolutionary change. In June 1858, Darwin received a bombshell letter from Wallace, who at the time was on the far-flung Malay Archipelago. In Europe, the majority have yet to be discovered.Īnd although one eventually overshadowed the other, the Darwin-Wallace Medal still rewards researchers who advance evolutionary biology.The story of how Alfred Russel Wallace startled Charles Darwin into writing On the Origin of Species is well known. Nonetheless, he will be remembered as one of the most renowned British scientists of his era, especially for his research on the Malay Archipelago, from where he gathered over 125,000 specimens of insects, birds, and mammals in 1862. Wallace became one of the most prominent Darwinism advocates. The first print run (1,250 copies) sold out the same day, as did the second.ĭarwin was more prominent than Wallace, but the two men admired one another. On his way back to England in 1852, his ship sank after a fire broke out.ĭespite the loss of his collection, Alfred Wallace would publish two books dedicated to his expeditions and set off again in 1854, this time for Asia, where he travelled for eight years.Ĭharles Darwin wrote ‘On the Origin of Species’, a revolutionary work, in 1859 on the opposite side of the globe, under pressure from time (and Wallace’s communication). Wallace canoed up the Rio Negro, farther than any other European, curious about everything, collecting mysterious specimens and filling dozens of notebooks. Hermann Hesse’s novel Siddhartha crosses a decade ![]() They will have the 25-year-old embarked on a journey to the Amazon, his goal being to map and collect butterflies, insects or birds. Young Wallace, who was forced to drop out of school at age 14, attended evening classes and specialised readings. Both men are absent, Wallace doesn’t even know, but their names are placed next to each other.Īlfred Russell Wallace, a future adventurer, collector, naturalist, geographer, and anthropologist, was born in Wales to a low-income family on January 8, 1823. The idea, described by Cyril Langlois of the Ecole Supérieur de Lyon as “a stroke of genius,” Wallace shared with his compatriot Charles Darwin, sending him his paper.ĭarwin found in it the essence of his own theory, which he had been perfecting for 20 years without publishing anything, and was “deeply upset by it,” says Langlois.Īt the same time, a joint presentation and publication of their work on natural selection were organised in London. Only the most ecologically adapted individuals within a specific territory survive and breed, passing on their superior features to their offspring. This intelligent, self-taught individual has a firm grasp on how species evolve. In 1858, while collecting hundreds of animal specimens on the islands of the Malay Archipelago, Wallace’s observations, coupled with a bout of malaria, prompted what he would later refer to as an “intuition.” The principle of natural selection was discovered together with another British naturalist: Alfred Russell Wallace, born two hundred years ago and somewhat forgotten since then, France Press reported. The theory of evolution doesn’t just rhyme with Darwin’s. ![]()
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