rhamphotheca: Alfred Russell Wallace: A Very Rare Specimen by…
Alfred Russell Wallace: A Very Rare Specimen
by Stephanie Pain
A hundred years after his death, it is high time to put this evolutionary pioneer in his proper place – as Charles Darwin’s equal.
YESTERDAY I met someone who had never heard of Alfred Russel Wallace. They were as amazed by my enthusiasm for a long-dead collector of beetles, butterflies and birds as I was by their admission that, really, they had no idea who he was.
What made the hole in my otherwise well-informed friend’s knowledge even more surprising was that this year, the centenary of Wallace’s death, has seen an outbreak of what could almost be called Wallacemania. Reprints of his books have been published, there are conferences and websites galore, and there is even at long last a statue at the Natural History Museum in London.
My admiration, and that of so many biologists, ecologists and natural history enthusiasts, is easy to explain. Wallace was a self-taught naturalist, who despite lacking the usual advantages of the Victorian gentleman scientist became one of the most revered men of his age. He had little formal education, no family wealth to draw on and no friends in high scientific places. But he did have passion, perception, and the resourcefulness and resilience to survive 12 years in the remote and dangerous tropics…
(read more: New Scientist)
paiting: English Heritage Photo Library/Bridgeman
Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/69224543505.
