#8: Alfred Russel Wallace - born 200 years ago today

It is likely that the new qualification will reference particular people who are significant in the field of Natural History... these could be biologists or from related sciences. It remains to be seen which people are referenced in the final draft specification and what students might be expected to know about them and their work. One imagines that Alfred Russel Wallace may get a mention.

"...there is no more admirable character in the history of science." 

Sir David Attenborough, 2013

2023 is the bicentenary of the birth of Alfred Russel Wallace.

He was born 200 years ago today.

He is described as a naturalist, explorer, geographer and anthropologist, but also drew maps and carried out biological investigations and species gathering on a range of expeditions. He was also an ornithologist.

He developed similar ideas to those of Charles Darwin at the same time in the area of evolution (known back then as transmutation).

The main website linked to above provides a wealth of information on him.

He was especially known for his studies of its zoogeography, including his discovery and description of the faunal discontinuity that now bears his name. The "Wallace Line," extends between the islands of Bali and Lombok and Borneo and Sulawesi, and marks the limits of eastern extent of many Asian animal species and, conversely, the limits of western extent of many Australasian animals.

He received the RGS-IBG's Founder's Medal.

The theory of evolution by natural selection was first proposed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the scientific paper below (the part Wallace authored is known as his 'Ternate Essay'). It is probably the most important scientific paper in the history of biology and it was read at a meeting of the Linnean Society of London on July 1st 1858, before being published on the 20th August of that year in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society: Zoology.

Source: https://wallacefund.myspecies.info/content/1858-darwin-wallace-paper