1.
Alfred Russell Wallace is one of the individuals
who had a lot of influence in Darwin’s development of his theory of Natural
Selection. Professor Rodriguez actually
pointed out that he influenced it in two ways: “He provided further evidence
supporting their theory AND Wallace provided the impetus Darwin needed to
finally publish his work or lose the credit to Wallace entirely.”
2.
Alfred Russell Wallace developed a theory of
natural selection and alongside Darwin published it in a scientific paper in
1958. The following year Darwin published
a book that further promoted his theory which grasped the community’s
attention. The link to my source is http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-21549079. Over the years the name Wallace became more and
more ghostly and Darwin became a famous household name even though they both
contributed equally and at the same time.
3.
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace had
almost similar theories in regards to evolution so all the points that led to
this theory are in fact the same in both cases.“If the Environment changes,
the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be
different. Darwin argued that when the
environment changed individuals would compete amongst the community rather than
what Wallace said. Both did focus that
once individuals settled into their new environments they would eventually
adapt to their surroundings.
4.
Yes Darwin had already done enough of his own research
the supported his theory the problem was that he had not made anything
public. And it wasn’t until he got a letter
from Wallace that he stepped up and move forth to publishing his book. It could have been questioned more in the
scientific community but it wasn’t because the research Wallace had also
supported Darwin’s theory.
5.
When Darwin published The Origin of Species it
became a big controversy in the church because religious views were being mixed
up. The attitude the church had was
immediately to reject the book. Religious
leaders felt that the theory directly denied and contradicted teachings of the
Christian faith. In an article I read it says that Darwin’s ideas “provoked a harsh
and immediate response from religious leaders in Britain.” One high ranking official called his theory
brutal philosophy. But in the end the
same church that challenged his theory at the beginning gave him a full state
funeral and burial.
http://www.pewforum.org/2009/02/04/darwin-and-his-theory-of-evolution/
Hi Jeannette,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog. You provided good points and facts about Wallace. Something that I would have liked to see is which points of evolution did Wallace influence Darwin. But I think you did a good job on how Wallace influenced Darwin.
Claudia
Hi Claudia,
DeleteMy mistake I should have used different wording. Wallace didn't necessarily influence Darwin. They both came up with the theory of natural selection without knowing each other. What I was trying to say in my post is that Darwin wouldn't be a household name if if wasn't for Wallace. Darwin had no intentions to publish his theory at that time until Wallace wrote to him with his findings.
Darwin's main influence was Charles Lyell's book Principles of Geology. Lyell main explanation for the Principles of Geology was Uniformitarianism. The same term Darwin used to explain how new species evolved.
Back to Wallace and Russell they both had literally come up with the same theory at the same time. Darwin gets the most credit because he published the ideas from both in his book, "The Origin of Species."
Thanks,
Jeannette
I found your post very interesting. I think the final push Darwin may have needed to publish was the possibility of being supplanted by Wallace. No matter what his influence on the body of the work the reason its Darwin's theory today may very well be due to Wallace.
ReplyDeleteVery good post. Good coverage of Wallace's contribution to Darwin's and of the parallels between the two theories.
ReplyDeleteYes, there was controversy when Darwin published, but perhaps not as much as there would have been had he published much earlier. But the church didn't know about his work or respond negatively until *after* he published. And yet Darwin delayed publishing for over 20 years, publishing only after it became apparent that Wallace might steal his limelight. Why did Darwin delay? Was he just being incredibly careful? Or was he concerned with the possible repercussions, not just against himself but also against his family? Given how controversial evolution is today (outside of science), can you imagine the pressure of actually publishing this idea? There are suggestions that Darwin actually saved himself stronger objections and repercussions by delaying as long as he did.
Other than this last point, good post.