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for the Cornish painter see Alfred Wallis Alfred Russel Wallace, OM , FRS ( January 8 1823 – November 7 1913 ) was a British Naturalist , Geographer , Anthropologist and Biologist . Wallace's independent proposal of a theory of Evolution by Natural Selection prompted Charles Darwin to reveal his own more developed and researched, but unpublished, theory sooner than he had intended. He is sometimes called the " Father Of Biogeography ". EARLY LIFE Wallace was born at Usk , Monmouthshire . He was the eighth of nine children of Thomas Vere Wallace and Mary Anne Greenell. He attended grammar school in Hertford , but left when his family lost their remaining property. He worked for his older brother William in his surveying business, and between 1840 and 1843 spent his time surveying in the west of England and Wales . In 1844 he was hired as a master at the Collegiate School in Leicester . In 1845 his brother William died and Wallace returned to run the Surveying business. in 1862 ]] EXPLORATION AND STUDY OF THE NATURAL WORLD In 1848 , Wallace, together with another naturalist, Henry Walter Bates (whom he had met in Leicester ), left for Brazil to collect specimens in the Amazon Rainforest , with the express intention of gathering facts in order to solve the riddle of the origin of species. Unfortunately, a large part of his collection was destroyed when his ship caught fire and sank while returning to Britain in 1852 . From 1854 to 1862 , he travelled through the Malay Archipelago or East Indies (now Malaysia and Indonesia ), to collect specimens and study nature. His observations of the marked zoological differences across a narrow zone in the archipelago led to his hypothesis of the zoogeographical boundary now known as the Wallace Line . One of his better known species descriptions during this trip is the gliding tree Frog ''Rhacophorus nigropalmatus'', Wallace's flying frogs. His studies there were eventually published in 1869 as ''The Malay Archipelago''. THEORY OF EVOLUTION : See also Publication Of Darwin's Theory . In ), and concludes that "Every species has come into existence coincident both in space and time with a closely allied species." The paper was a foreshadowing of the momentous paper he would write three years hence. Wallace had once briefly met Darwin, and was one of Darwin's numerous correspondents from around the world, whose observations Darwin used to support his theories. Wallace knew that Darwin was interested in the question of how species originate, and trusted his opinion on the matter. Thus, he sent him his essay, "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type" (1858) , and asked him to review it. On decided to present the essay, together with excerpts from a paper that Darwin had written in 1844 , and kept confidential, to the Linnean Society Of London on 1 July 1858 , highlighting Darwin's priority. Wallace accepted the arrangement after the fact, grateful that he had been included at all. Darwin's social and scientific status was at that time far greater than Wallace's, and it was unlikely that Wallace's views on evolution would have been taken as seriously. Though relegated to the position of co-discoverer, and never the social equal of Darwin or the other elite British natural scientists, Wallace was granted far greater access to tightly-regulated British scientific circles after the advocacy on his part by Darwin. When he returned to England, Wallace met Darwin and the two remained friendly afterwards. RELIGIOUS VIEWS, AND APPLICATION OF THE THEORY TO MANKIND In a letter to a relative in 1861 , Wallace wrote: "I think I have fairly heard and fairly weighed the evidence on both sides, and I remain an utter disbeliever in almost all that you consider the most sacred truths... I can see much to admire in all religions... But whether there be a God and whatever be His nature; whether we have an immortal soul or not, or whatever may be our state after death, I can have no fear of having to suffer for the study of nature and the search for truth...." In could easily explain such apparently non-adaptive phenomena. In many accounts of the history of evolution, Wallace is relegated to a role of simply being the "stimulus" to Darwin's own theory. In reality, Wallace developed his own distinct evolutionary views which diverged from Darwin's, and was considered by many (especially Darwin) to be a chief thinker on evolution in his day whose ideas could not be ignored. He is among the most cited naturalists in Darwin's '' Descent Of Man '', often in strong disagreement. PRECURSOR OF ECOLOGY Wallace was the first to propose a and Biogeography . AWARDS Among the many awards presented to Wallace were the Order Of Merit ( 1908 ), the Royal Society 's Copley Medal ( 1908 ), the Royal Geographical Society 's Founder's Medal ( 1892 ) and the Linnean Society's Gold Medal ( 1892 ). He is also honored by having Craters on Mars and the Moon named after him. Having sometimes been referred to as "Darwin's Moon" it is amusing that Wallace has a crater on the Moon named after himself. REFERENCES
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EXTERNAL LINKS BOOKS ABOUT WALLACE
" of the Dodo [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684827123/103-0625961-3198240?v=glance&n=283155]" by David Quammen WALLACE CENTRE@SANTUBONG On 14 July 2005, Chief Minister Pehin Sri Dr Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud has urged Unimas {Link without Title} to set up the Wallace Centre in an effort to inspire young scientists to carry out more research on the State's rich biodiversity . A one-stop center to be set up and named after the renowed British naturalist, will inspire young scientists to carry out more research on biodiversity in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. SEE ALSO |
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