Alfred Russel Wallace - Biography.

Alfred Russel Wallace - Biography. British naturalist Birth January 8, 1823 Death November 7, 1913 Place of Usk, Wales Birth Known for Developing the theory of evolution contemporaneously with British naturalist Charles Darwin Career 1848 Traveled to South America and began collecting insect specimens 1854 Continued collecting and observing animal species in southeast Asia, and developed the concept of natural selection 1858 Sent a paper containing his theory of evolution to Charles Darwin, who arranged, through Charles Lyell, for it to be jointly read before the Linnaean Society with his own 1869 Published The Malay Archipelago, which fleshed out his theory of evolution 1870 Published Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection 1876 Published The Geographic Distribution of Animals, observations of species distribution gathered during years of travel Did You While returning from four years spent collecting specimens in the Amazon, Wallace's boat caught fire and sank, along with all his collected Know specimens. Wallace was active in the movement against the smallpox vaccination. During his 8 years in the Malay Archipelago, he collected over 125,000 species of mammals, insects, shells, reptiles, and birds. Although Wallace believed in evolution, he still held that human intelligence has a supernatural origin. Wallace left school at the age of 14. Wallace noted a marked difference between the plants and animals of southeast Asia and those of Australia, and was the first to postulate that their physical separation prevented competition between species. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.