The first name that pops up when we think of evolution is Charles Darwin, who gave us the theory of natural selection in his book “On The Origin of Species.” How many of us know Alfred Russel Wallace, also came up with the theory independently while recovering from a bout of malaria in the Malay Archipelago?
He was a British naturalist, an explorer and called the father of Biogeography who lost his name as the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution to time.
Early Life
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) was born in a small village near the Welsh border to Thomas Wallace and Mary Anne Greenall, eighth of nine children. Wallace moved closer to London when he was 5 years. Wallace had a difficult childhood due to lack of money and had to quit school around the age of 14. He moved to live with his older brother John in London. This period was a pivotal time of his life and defined his intellectual development as he came in contact with supporters of utopian socialist, Robert Owen. Wallace left London and joined his eldest brother William as a land surveyor and maker of maps. The love for science and natural history was kindled during this job that he held from 1840-1843. He also became an amateur botanist collecting plants and flowers.
He was appointed as a teacher at the Collegiate School at Leicester for a year. Wallace spent a significant amount of time at the Leicester library reading some great works of his contemporaries that went on to influence and shape his thoughts and ideas. These included Charles Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle (1839), Charles Lyell’s Principles of geology (1833) and Thomas Malthus’s Essay on the Principle of Population (1826). He also met his friend and later travel partner Henry Bates (of the Batesian mimicry fame) during this time.
He observed a pronounced faunal discontinuity in the species
found among Indonesian islands of Bali, Lombok, Borneo, and Sulawesi,
which is now known as the Wallace line
Voyage to the Amazon (1848-1852)
Wallace and Bates together traveled to Para in Amazon to collect insect and bird specimens and to sell them back home in England. After a few months of being together, both made their separate ways with Wallace moving to Upper Rio Negro. The diversity of life in the Amazonian forests amazed Wallace and this is where he noticed differences in the fauna and flora based on geographical boundaries and his ideas on biogeography started to take shape. He had been taken in by the ideas of evolution and came to believe it can be demonstrated by tracing it over time and space. However, he could not come up with any mechanism in the end.
He decided to return to England with the specimen he had collected and planned to sell them. Unfortunately, his ship sank on the way, causing him to lose his entire specimen as well as, his journals where he kept notes of his journey – thus, hindering his progress on developing a theory of evolution. He did, however, write two books- Palm Trees of the Amazon and Their Uses (1853) and A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro (1853). He also read papers in scientific societies and interacted with other naturalists in England, which helped him to build a reputation among them and secure a grant for his trip to Malay Archipelago.
“Every species has come into existence coincident
both in time and space with a pre-existing closely allied species”
Voyage to Malay Archipelago (1854-1862)
This period spent in South-east Asia (then known as the Malay Archipelago) would come to define Wallace’s reputation as a Scientist, a Naturalist and an Explorer.
Over the next eight years, Wallace devoted himself to exploring the flora and fauna of most of the islands in this archipelago. In fact, his expeditions have remained the most detailed observations of the Indonesian islands to date. He discovered many new species and collected more than 125,000 specimens of birds, mammals, insects, etc. He observed a pronounced faunal discontinuity in the species found among Indonesian islands of Bali, Lombok, Borneo, and Sulawesi, which is now known as the Wallace line. He was regarded as the greatest authority on the zoogeography of these islands at that time.
He wrote an essay titled ‘On the Law Which Has Regulated the Introduction of New Species‘ where he presented the idea that “Every species has come into existence coincident both in time and space with a pre-existing closely allied species.” However, it was a theory, as the essay had no proofs to supplement.
His ideas about genealogical descent became concrete over time as he continued to collect specimens and observe the fauna of the land. In February 1858, despite his malarial illness, the pursuit of fauna observation helped him gain traction and formulate his idea on the origin of new species from the struggle for existence. For both Darwin and Wallace, reading Malthus’s essay on limits on population growth was crucial and both independently put together their idea of survival of the fittest. Thus, the key similarity in their theory is the finite resources and the struggle for existence. Another similarity is the recognition of the fact that reproduction and survival are not random coincidences but, rather selection for useful variations. However, having come to develop the theory observing very different types of fauna, they also differed in some key points in their developments of the theory. The major difference is that Darwin acknowledged the intra-specific competition among individuals of a species, but Wallace mainly believed in the effect of the external forces and in the evolution of a group rather than individuals. Yet another difference was in the theory of sexual selection. While Darwin talked about the plumage of male birds and how selection of secondary sexual characters determined individual success, Wallace was quiet on this topic.
The Controversy
Wallace wrote his theory of evolution as an essay titled, ‘On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type’ and sent it to Darwin with a letter. Darwin, in turn, showed it to Lyell who advised Darwin to present his theory along with Wallace’s to The Royal Society as a joint paper. This was done without seeking permission from Wallace, as the communications during those times took a long time. Thus, both essays on evolution appeared together in the journal edition of August 1858.
To a certain extent, Wallace pushed Darwin to present his theory earlier than he had initially planned. Darwin had been formulating the theory backing it with evidence from his voyages for about 20 years. Darwin’s book was supposed to be a much larger volume, however, it was published hurriedly in 1859. Perhaps, in a much more concise and readable manner thus, ensuring its immortality. Rest, as they say, is history!
Though Wallace never spoke ill of Darwin and in fact, both remained friends till the death of Darwin (as mentioned in Wallace’s autobiography, My Life), there has been several conspiracy theories on how Darwin being of better financial means and with significant reputation probably usurped Wallace’s deserved glory. Nevertheless, Wallace himself did not mention anywhere about injustice meted to him. Rather, he expressed gratitude to Darwin, who secured him a small pension when he fell into hard times.
Truth is born into this world only with pangs and tribulations, and every fresh truth is received unwillingly. To expect the world to receive a new truth, or even an old truth, without challenging it, is to look for one of those miracles which do not occur – A.R. Wallace
Books and later life
Post-Malay Archipelago expedition in 1862, Wallace’s fame as a naturalist grew as he devoted himself to writing and presenting his essays to Linnean, Zoological, Anthropological societies. He was a prolific, effective and a competent writer as evidenced by his continued publication of books into the beginning of 20th century. He published many successful and well-read books like The Malay Archipelago (which has never gone out of print since its first publication in 1869!), Contributions to the theory of Natural Selection (1870), The Geographical Distribution of Animals (1876) and Island Life (1880).
In 1905, he published his autobiography, My Life, which remains the most elaborate biographical account of his. Wallace passed away at the age of 90 in 1913.
Wallace was a famous naturalist of his time but, his fame faded over time and so did his contributions to science. He might have got lost in history to be recognized as the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution, but his books will keep his ideas alive. To quote Wallace, “Truth is born into this world only with pangs and tribulations, and every fresh truth is received unwillingly. To expect the world to receive a new truth, or even an old truth, without challenging it, is to look for one of those miracles which do not occur”.
Author: Archana Nagarajan
Archana Nagarajan pursued her Ph.D. in Evolutionary Genetics from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre For Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, India. She moved to Europe more than 9 years ago to pursue post-doctoral research. After moving through Europe (France, UK and Norway) for various post-doctoral stints in ageing biology, she now lives in Hamburg, Germany with her family and work as a freelance Scientific and Medical Writer. She enjoys writing on science and on sustainable living. She is often found curled up with her books in various corners of her home. She also enjoys reading to her daughter and love travelling to UNESCO world heritage sites.
Editor and Blog Design: Rajamani Selvam
Rajamani Selvam received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience. She is currently pursuing a fellowship where she studies the blood-brain barrier. She is interested in a career in science policy or regulatory affairs. During her free time, she volunteers as a judge to Science Fairs to elementary and high schoolers, performs demonstrations and hands-on activities to provide insights on brain and Neuroscience. She also mentors students through 1000 girls’ 1000 futures program and Freedom English Academy where she provides career guidance. Away from science, she is an artist and enjoys leisure travel.
Illustrators: Disha Chauhan and Saurabh Gayali
Disha Chauhan did her Ph.D. in IRBLLEIDA, University of Lleida, Spain in Molecular and Developmental Neurobiology. She has post-doctoral experience in Cell Biology of Neurodegenerative diseases and is actively seeking a challenging research position in academia/industry. Apart from Developmental Neurobiology, she is also interested in Oncology. She is passionate about visual art (Illustration, painting and photography) and storytelling through it. She enjoys reading, traveling, hiking and is also dedicated to raising scientific awareness about Cancer. Follow her on Instagram.
Saurabh Gayali recently completed his Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology from National Institute of Plant Genome Research (JNU), New Delhi. Currently he is DBT RA at IGIB (New Delhi) and his research focuses on finding binding associations of Indian plant metabolites with human pathogen proteins, creating a platform for future plant extract based drug discovery. He has keen interest in data analysis, visualization and database management. He is a skilled 2D/3D designer with a specific interest in scientific illustration. In leisure, Saurabh plays guitar and composes music, does photography or practices programming. Follow him on Instagram or Twitter.
The contents of Club SciWri are the copyright of PhD Career Support Group for STEM PhDs {A US Non-Profit 501(c)3}. (PhDCSG is an initiative of the alumni of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The primary aim of this group is to build a NETWORK among scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs).
This work by Club SciWri is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
