Out of the list of names above, my choice is no other than Alfred Russell Wallace. He had the most influence on Darwin's Natural Selection theory. He contributed to a lot of Darwin's evidence. Wallace traveled all around the world and begin to come up with a theory based on animals and how they mate and reproduce which also has a different impact depending on their environmental circumstances.
Wallace and Darwin were more in a competitive state. Darwin didn't want Wallace to take full credit for the Natural Selection theory. Darwin was sitting on the idea for fifteen years, but never had enough evidence to publish his idea. If Wallace would have never exchange letters with Darwin on the idea of the Natural Selection theory, he would have probably took full credit for the Natural Selection theory. Wallace essay forced Darwin to submit his ideas to a publisher. And since Wallace gave his letter and ideas to Darwin for him to submit to a publisher while he was out traveling around the world, Do you think Darwin would have publish his ideas? A publisher thought it would have been fair to publish both of these scientists essays next to each other. Which not only made it fair, but both of the scientists were happy. So whenever someone is speaking of the Natural Selection theory by Charles Darwin, Alfred Russell Wallace's name is not far behind.
Wallace key points that were used most in his work:
If the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different and In order for natural selection to occur, reproduction MUST occur! Both of these points were used in Wallace theory. He discussed the way animals reproduced in different climates and the traits they received from each parent and also the traits they would create on their own.
No, it took Darwin fifteen years to decide to publish his idea, and that was only because Wallace was in the mist of publishing his own. Wallace was traveling all around the world putting his theory to the test. Wallace never gave up on his ideas and kept finding ways to make his theory true.
They decicded not teach any of the students about Darwin's theory. The church only believed about teaching their student about what they believed were traditional values. So any mention about his book or any of his other writings were prohibited.
http://darwin200.christs.cam.ac.uk/pages/index.php?page_id=d8
I think Wallace and Darwin were the perfect duo, to some extent. Although Darwin didn't publish his book for many years, I feel it was most due to the repercussions of going against the church. Not only was he worried about the church, but his wife felt it went against everything she believed. Therefore he waited until the church was a bit more accepting of the Evolution Theory.
ReplyDeleteGood post, but didn't it Darwin a little more than 15 years to publish his idea. also, while Wallace was close in publishing his idea wouldn't the church play a bigger part in the delay in his publishing given that going against the church would result in religious persecution given the vast power and influence the church had at the time and his theory would challenge the church's teachings?
ReplyDeleteOkay on your background for Wallace, but let me clarify a couple of things. Darwin was essentially finished with his paper by the time he heard from Wallace, so having enough evidence wasn't a problem. So the question of why he delayed more than 20 years (not 15) is important (gets to the last guideline point). Darwin didn't submit his work without Wallace. They published jointly by agreement.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your choice of bullet points, but since both Wallace and Darwin developed the same theory (and both were heavily influenced by Malthus), don't all bullet points apply to Wallace as well?
While I disagree with some of your details, I do agree that Darwin may never have published without the impetus that Wallace provided. He had paper and the work and evidence, but something was keeping him from publishing.
The final question doesn't ask about AFTER he published (and this didn't become an issue in the schools until early 1900's in the US, not in England). It asks about the influence of the church on Darwin's decision to publish at all. Darwin delayed for more than 20 years. Why? What were his concerns? And how did the influence of the church come into play.
Nice post. I do agree that Darwin would have taken his time to publish his findings if it wasn't for Wallace's efforts in sharing his ideas with Darwin. Darwin, however, did not need more information from Wallace, if anything and this might be a far stretch, you can probably argue or point out that Wallace did help Darwin see that his findings were in fact true and that the evidence from Wallace's paper allowed Darwin to have a second opinion as to his research on natural selection.
ReplyDeleteBut when it came to the key points that Wallace and Darwin share, they shared ALL the key points because they were both scientist who focused on natural selection. Their findings coincided with one another meaning that all bullet points applied.