The forgotten father of the theory of evolution

100 years since the death of Alfred Russel Wallace

On June 18.6.1858, 22, Charles Darwin received a letter that changed his life. Darwin was already a well-known and respected biologist and geologist, but only some of his closest friends knew about the revolutionary theory that had been taking shape in him for a long time. 30 years have passed since Darwin returned to Britain from the voyage of the ship "Beagle" around the world. In the years after the voyage, Darwin published many findings, but at the same time he wrestled with the question that preoccupied him the most: how new species of living creatures are created. Already at the end of the XNUMXs, he realized that the answer lies in the mechanism of natural selection. Each individual in the population differs from the others in a tiny, random difference, such as a slight change in the length of the neck. Sometimes a change in nature may give an advantage to one of these individuals, for example a drought that dries up the vegetation and gives an advantage to those with long necks, who can gnaw the highest leaves. In such a situation, it is likely that more long-necked animals will survive, and will be able to produce offspring, probably they will also be long-necked. That is, it is nature that selects the most suitable individuals for survival. The continuation of the hot and dry conditions will give rise to more and more cycles of such selection, until the long-necked animals will already be completely different from their ancestors, who may have migrated to a more suitable environment, adapted to a different food source or simply become extinct. Congratulations! A new species is born.

Theory pending

For many years Darwin included the theory, developed it and collected more and more findings that support it. However, he was very afraid to publish the new theory. Darwin realized that an explanation for the formation of species that does not coincide with the biblical story of creation, could arouse strong opposition. He also predicted that the debate would soon come to the question of the origin of man - which according to him was no different from other animals in the way of his formation - a position that would surely be frowned upon not only in the eyes of the church, but in the eyes of broad circles in Victorian England, who would not look kindly on the heresy. Darwin continued to polish the theory for many years and worked it into a tight and reasoned connection, until he received the letter that dropped the ground from under his feet. An almost completely unknown naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace (Wallace), asked him to go over an article he had written, in which he explains the formation of species in an almost identical way to Darwin's ideas, although he did not use the term "natural selection" coined by Darwin.

On the water

Wallace was very different from Darwin and his friends, both in terms of professional background, but mainly in terms of economic and social status. He was born in Wales in 1823 (14 years after Darwin), the seventh of nine children of an English mother and a Scottish father, a rather unsuccessful businessman who mostly managed to lose the little family fortune. Shortly after graduating from elementary school, he began working with his older brother, William, who was a land surveyor. A few years later, William's business ran into difficulties, and Alfred began teaching drawing at Leicester College, spending most of his free time in the public library there, Goma Science Books. There he also befriended the young entomologist (insect researcher) Henry Bates (Bates) who instilled in him the love of the field. In 1845 William died, and Alfred tried to restore the surveying business on his own. Working a lot in rural areas allowed him to dedicate more and more time to his new hobby - collecting insects and studying them. Three years later, Wallace decided to try to make a living from his hobby, left the business to another brother who worked with him and went with Bates to the Amazon basin in Brazil, where he hoped to make a living by collecting rare insects and other animals, and selling them to museums around the world. At the end of four years of travels in Brazil (and after falling asleep), Wallace sailed back to England with his great booty. Unfortunately for him, the ship he was sailing on caught fire and sank, with all its cargo. The passengers and crew floundered for ten days in two lifeboats, before another ship picked them up on its way to England. For a year and a half, Wallace lived off the insurance money of the sunk collection, enjoyed some success in the scientific society of London, wrote articles and published two books - a diary of his journey in Brazil and a professional book on the different types of palm trees in the Amazon region. Both evoked positive reactions, but nothing more. At that time, Wallace also began to give his opinion more seriously on the question of the ways of development of new species, but he still did not write anything. In 1853 he set out on a new collecting trip, to the Malay Archipelago, the area that is now Indonesia and Malaysia.

Evolution of theory

During the eight years he stayed in the Malay Archipelago, Wallace was one of the most prolific naturalists of his time. He collected almost 130,000 items, including about 1,000 species of animals that were new to science. He completed many research tasks, and largely became the founder of biogeography - the field of research that deals with the distribution of different species. During his work, Wallace made connections with museums, collectors and researchers. One of them was Darwin himself, who hoped that Wallace would be able to obtain a rare bird for him. In 1856, Darwin read an article by Wallace, and praised his work in a personal letter he sent to him. In February 1858, while battling malaria, Wallace experienced a moment of inspiration. He thought about human populations in Papua, and how settlers from Malaysia were pushing the feet of the natives and then made the extrapolation to animals and the idea that the environment selects the individuals best suited to survive. When he recovered a little, Wallace hastened to formulate his ideas in an article, and send them to Darwin. When the stunned Darwin read the article, he wrote to his close friend Charles Lyell, "Had Wallace's sketch of my 1842 manuscript come into my hands, he could not have composed a better summary."

Natural selection

It was not for nothing that Darwin felt that the ground was falling from under his feet. The rules of gentlemanly honor of the time obliged him to allow Wallace to be the first to publish the theory. However, Darwin's close friends, who knew about his life's work, believed that there was room for maneuver. According to their suggestion, the new theory was presented in two papers - Wallace's and Darwin's - at a scientific conference in London just two weeks later. Wallace knew nothing of it. It was only a few months later that the letter from Darwin and his friends reached him in Indonesia, explaining the circumstances and proposing the joint declaration arrangement (which already existed by the time he received the letter). Wallace later admitted that he was shocked by the letter, but immediately responded positively and wrote to Darwin and his friends that the arrangement was acceptable to him. It can be argued that Darwin was being generous to Russell, because he could remove the paper sent to him and present his theory alone. However, the settlement agreement can also be seen as an exploitation of Russell, who could not oppose this proposal due to his low status. He lacked a formal education, lacked the solid economic foundation that Darwin and his cohorts enjoyed, and was never accepted as an equal member of London's scientific aristocracy. Wallace remained in the inventory area and continued his work. Darwin, on the other hand, sat down to write with full vigor, and in November 1859 he published his most famous book "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection". Although the theory of evolution (yet to be called that) began to cause a public uproar after the joint declaration in the summer of 1858, it was the appearance of the "descent of species" that caused the great public uproar, and provoked sharp disputes between the followers of the theory and the "creationists", and in a broader view - a clash Frontal between science and religion.

Just because of the wind

Most of the public uproar was already forgotten by 1862, when Wallace returned to England after eight years in the Indonesian region. Wallace and Darwin not only met face to face, but also became friends out of mutual appreciation. However, the idyll did not last long. Several scientific controversies emerged between the founders of the theory of evolution, primarily the question of human development. As mentioned, Darwin saw man as another link in the evolutionary chain, which was created according to the same rules of natural selection, and even published these things in a separate book "The Descent of Man" in 1871 (in "The Descent of Species" he was careful not to deal with the issue, for fear of upsetting the clergy too much ). Wallace, on the other hand, claimed that evolution only pushed the apes to the brink of humanity, but that at this point consciousness or spirit entered the arena, changing the rules of the game. Wallace joined the spiritualist religion, which advocates the continued existence of the soul even after the death of the physical body, argued that evolution cannot explain phenomena such as reason and morality, which shaped human civilizations. Darwin, by the way, reacted strongly to this position published by Russell and wrote to him "I hope you have not murdered your child and mine". However, despite the sharp disagreements on several issues, Wallace remains a loyal follower of the theory of evolution and of Darwin himself. In 1889 (seven years after Darwin's death), he published one of the most prominent books explaining the theory of evolution, and gave the book (and the theory) the name "Darwinism".

Ahead of his time

However, the work on the theory of evolution was only a small part of Wallace's extensive scientific work. He continued to publish in March many studies on diverse biological topics, mainly the classification of species and their distribution. On many issues he was ahead of his time, and so for example he warned more than a hundred years ago that excessive deforestation in tropical areas would cause heavy environmental damage, due to soil erosion. Wallace was also one of the first to use scientific tools to address the question of whether there is extraterrestrial life, and even published a book on the subject. He also often engaged in various social issues, and argued that the state should buy (or nationalize) a lot of land, in order to rent it out at an equal price for everyone. Among his many other activities, Wallace managed to repeatedly get involved in embarrassing incidents. He strongly opposed the administration of vaccines on the grounds that they are not useful, and was even accused of misleading a royal commission that discussed the issue and heard his testimony. For years he waged high-profile battles with vaccine advocates, which damaged his scientific prestige. In another case, Wallace, always in need of money, accepted the challenge of a capitalist who believed with all his heart that the earth was flat, and offered a fortune of £500 to anyone who would disprove the claim. Wallace, always in need of money, did this by placing distant posts at the same height, so Looking through the telescope it was possible to see that one of them looked lower, which proves that the earth is spherical. He won the intervention, but instead of paying him, he sued the same man for fraud, and the protracted litigation cost Wallace not only much frustration, but also a far greater sum than the original award.

Late recognition

Despite his turbulent professional life, Wallace led his personal life in relative silence. Four years after his return from Indonesia, he married Annie Mitten, the daughter of a botanist he had befriended in Brazil, and they had three children. Throughout his life he struggled for his financial existence, and many times needed the help of friends (including Darwin) to receive research grants or other assistance. However, despite his financial situation and despite the fact that his health was not always good, he lived until after his 90th birthday, and continued to work until he died in his sleep, exactly 100 years ago today.

Wallace won awards during his lifetime and the same recognition for his comprehensive work, which amounted to more than 4,000 articles and books, but after his death he was not included in the golden books of British scientific history, probably also due to his low status and stormy life. However, over the years it gradually became clear that his great contribution to many fields such as biogeography, ecology, and of course the theory of evolution. In recent years, his name has been revived, partly thanks to several biographies that sketch his complex portrait and shed light on the importance of his scientific work.