I have incredibly spotty wireless coverage in my room which means that I have to do amazing feats of gymnastics to be able to see more than two bars on my laptop. However, I wanted to take a few minutes to celebrate Alfred Russel Wallace’s 188th birthday. He, along with Charles Darwin (whose birthday is coming soon– cake pending– it’s going to be better than these– wait, where did they get Darwin action figures?– is that Père Noël dressed in black?), put forward the theory of evolution. As I wrote in an article a while back:
The Linnean papers, published later in August 20th as part of the society’s proceedings, were the start of a movement in science that became known as the Darwinian revolution. One essay was by Charles Darwin, an English naturalist whose name has become the cornerstone of evolutionary theory. The other essay was by Alfred Russel Wallace, an English naturalist whose name has become largely restricted to the annals of history… Although Wallace had technically been the first to put his thesis on natural selection in a publishable form, he continued to give credit to Darwin for its discovery and never claimed priority. This has been viewed, in combination with other factors, to have played an important role in his almost “forgotten status” in the history of science.
Alfred Russel Wallace is a truly fascinating character in his own right and one of the unsung heroes of science. He produced a massive body of scientific work in evolutionary biology, biogeography and ecology. He wrote extensively in areas outside science as well. Coming from a very modest background, Wallace considered himself a socialist and engaged extensively in social activism. He criticized free-trade and privatization, supported woman’s suffrage, and wrote against eugenics and social Darwinism which were ideas sported by some of his contemporaries. He also adhered to other beliefs, such as spiritualism, that caused some tension between him and scientific contemporaries.
In contrast to Darwin who took a conservative approach to science, having forestalled publication of his theory of natural selection for 20 years—the self-educated Wallace operated on strokes of genius. It has been said that developed the main points of evolutionary theory in a two-hour fit of malaria (how productive are your sick days? I thought so.) He clearly wasn’t afraid to be controversial, and almost to a flaw was willing to hedge all bets on an idea he believed to be right. And he was mostly right. At the same time, Wallace was incredibly humble scientist who sparked a modern revolution in science by providing Darwin with impetus and unconditional support.
The collaboration between Darwin and Wallace was one of mutual respect and offered benefits that would have been unlikely otherwise. A humble Darwin, despite his background and education, viewed Wallace, who never had a formal education beyond the age of thirteen as his equal and even greater in some respects. Furthermore, Darwin encouraged Wallace and saw within him tremendous potential. As well, despite every motivation to do otherwise, he acted honorably upon receiving Wallace’s unexpected paper and reluctantly presented his own alongside it; which had he been a different individual, might have turned out differently. Wallace admired Darwin and through his correspondence came to trust him, which is why he sent his contribution to the Linnean papers to him in 1858.
Following the publication of the paper, Wallace expressed gratitude to Darwin for his support. Instead of focusing on receiving greater credit and recognition for his contribution to evolutionary theory, a self-effacing Wallace recognized that nurturing the nascent Darwinian revolution, the new paradigm in science, was preferable to dividing it. This is best illustrated by Wallace’s strong recommendation to a friend about Darwin’s On the Origin of Species on the eve of its publication, on November 24th 1859, precisely 150 years ago: “Mr. Darwin has given the world a new science, and his name should, in my opinion, stand above that of every philosopher of ancient or modern times.
Today is writer and scientist Carl Sagan‘s 75th birthday. Carl Sagan is remembered for his remarkable ability to take scientific knowledge and present it in an elegant and comprehensive way to the broader public. An ability that I’ve truly come to appreciate as I’ve become more involved with communicating science. But it’s not just limited to that. Carl Sagan’s approach, along with that a few of his contemporaries, was a vestige of the approach by the natural philosophers who pushed forward the scientific revolution. These communicators not only put science in comprehensible terms for the public, but by describing the fragments together, they provided an avenue for science itself to become consolidated. They were concerned with epistemology, They posed questions the nature of human and his place in the universe, and with every question they shifted our views about who we are. Finally, they were pioneers who scoped the skies with spectacles of imagination to see not just what is, but what may be.
From my post two years ago: I just wanted to share a quote from Carl Sagan that I found tremendously inspiring when I was younger. Pale Blue Dot, displayed below, is the infamous picture of Earth, 4 billion miles out in space, at the edge of the solar system, taken by Voyager 1 in 1990, followed by Carl Sagan’s remarks on what this picture represents. I would like to share this because I find what Sagan presents to be both unsettling and moving on a fundamental level. Sometimes I find the existentialist parts of me, parts that desire to set the human definition and experience as encompassing all that is real and all that matters at odds with his perspective. At the same time however, I find myself awed by the profound truth in Sagan’s description of the entirety of humanity’s experiences on this planet.
One response so far
Alfred Russel Wallace is a truly fascinating character in his own right and one of the unsung heroes of science. He produced a massive body of scientific work in evolutionary biology, biogeography and ecology. He wrote extensively in areas outside science as well. Coming from a very modest background, Wallace considered himself a socialist and engaged extensively in social activism. He criticized free-trade and privatization, supported woman’s suffrage, and wrote against eugenics and social Darwinism which were ideas sported by some of his contemporaries. He also adhered to other beliefs, such as spiritualism, that caused some tension between him and scientific contemporaries. 
2005-2012 Marzieh Ghiasi. 
