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Alfred Russel Wallace Deserves More Respect
The man who knew too much and published too little
Perished like a butterfly on a burning boat
Naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace should have his own non-Darwin plaque for the back of a vehicle. He discovered the theory of evolution through natural selection, and even co-authored with Charles Darwin, but his role is largely forgotten.
I would like a butterfly plaque for the bumper of my car to sit beside my Darwin plaque.
Unfortunately, such hope has perished like a butterfly on a burning boat. Upon his return from Brazil in 1852, the entire ship that Wallace was on (The Helen) along with his meticulously collected birds, butterflies, mammals, plant specimens. and notes went up in flames. Wallace and the rest of the crew drifted in the Atlantic for ten days.
He also survived several bouts of Malaria, lived in jungles of both South America and several wild locales from Singapore to New Guinea. Wallace stumbled upon the most important discovery in all of biology — evolution — while sweltering in tropical heat, bitten by bugs, and nearly dying. In Borneo, in 1855, he wrote down his ideas. Three years later, he and Charles Darwin would present their shared ideas to London.