Alfred Russel Wallace facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alfred Russel Wallace
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Wallace in 1895
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| Born | 8 January 1823 Llanbadoc, Monmouthshire, Wales
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| Died | 7 November 1913 (aged 90) Broadstone, Dorset, England
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| Author abbrev. (botany) | Wallace |
Alfred Russel Wallace (born January 8, 1823 – died November 7, 1913) was a British explorer, scientist, and social activist. He is best known for independently coming up with the idea of evolution through natural selection. This is the same idea that Charles Darwin also developed. In 1858, Wallace sent his paper on this topic to Darwin. This encouraged Darwin to quickly publish his famous book, The Origin of Species, in 1859.
Wallace traveled a lot to study nature. He explored the Amazon River basin and later the Malay Archipelago. In the Malay Archipelago, he discovered a special boundary called the Wallace Line. This line separates animals in Indonesia into two groups: those from Asia and those from Australia. He was considered the top expert on how animals are spread across the world. Some even call him the "father of biogeography", which is the study of where living things are found.
Wallace also studied how animals use bright colors to warn predators. He also looked at how natural selection can help create new species by preventing different groups from mixing. This is sometimes called the Wallace effect. He was also one of the first scientists to seriously think about whether there could be life on other planets.
Besides his science work, Wallace cared deeply about society. He spoke out against unfair social and economic systems in Britain. He was also one of the first scientists to worry about how humans were affecting the environment. His book, The Malay Archipelago, tells about his adventures and discoveries in Southeast Asia. It is still very popular today.
Contents
Wallace's Life Story
Growing Up and Early Interests
Alfred Russel Wallace was born on January 8, 1823, in Llanbadoc, Wales. He was one of nine children. His family had financial problems, and they moved often. When he was five, they moved to Hertford, England. He went to Hertford Grammar School until he was 14.
After school, Wallace moved to London to live with his older brother John. He attended lectures and read books at the London Mechanics Institute. Here, he learned about new ideas from social reformers. In 1837, he became an apprentice surveyor with his oldest brother, William. They worked in Wales and England, and Wallace became very interested in the natural history around him. He started collecting plants as a hobby.
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In 1843, his father died, and William's surveying business slowed down. Wallace found work teaching drawing and mapmaking at a school in Leicester. He spent a lot of time at the town library. He read important books like Darwin's Journal (The Voyage of the Beagle) and Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology. He also met Henry Walter Bates, a young scientist who studied insects. Bates became his friend and got Wallace interested in collecting insects.
Wallace later joined his brother John to start an architecture and engineering business. They designed a building for the Neath Mechanics' Institute. Wallace also gave lectures there on science and engineering. He continued to collect insects and learn about the natural world.
Exploring the World and Studying Nature
Wallace was inspired by other naturalists who traveled the world. He decided to go on his own adventure. He believed he could pay for his trip by collecting and selling animal specimens like birds and insects. In 1848, Wallace and Bates sailed to Brazil. They wanted to collect specimens in the Amazon Rainforest and study how species change over time.
Wallace spent four years exploring the Rio Negro river. He collected many specimens and took notes on the people, languages, and nature he found. In 1852, he sailed back to the UK. Sadly, his ship caught fire, and he lost almost all his valuable specimens and notes from his trip. He only saved a few sketches. After being rescued at sea, he finally reached London.
Back in Britain, Wallace wrote books and papers about his Amazon travels, even with his lost notes. He also met other British naturalists.
In 1854, Wallace set off again, this time for the Malay Archipelago (which includes modern-day Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia). He wanted to collect more specimens for his own collection and for museums. He traveled for eight years, collecting over 125,000 specimens, including more than 83,000 beetles. Many of these were new species that science had never seen before. He hired local assistants, including a trusted helper named Ali.
While exploring, Wallace kept thinking about how species change. In 1855, he wrote a paper called "On the Law which has Regulated the Introduction of New Species." In this paper, he suggested that new species always appear close in space and time to similar species. This idea became known as the "Sarawak Law."
In 1858, while sick with a fever on the island of Ternate, Wallace had a breakthrough idea. He thought about how populations grow and how many individuals die. He realized that the ones best suited to their environment would survive and pass on their traits. This was his idea of natural selection. He quickly wrote down his thoughts and sent them to Charles Darwin.
Darwin received Wallace's paper and realized it was very similar to his own ideas that he had been working on for 20 years. Darwin, along with his friends Charles Lyell and Joseph Hooker, decided to present Wallace's paper together with some of Darwin's earlier writings. This happened at the Linnean Society of London on July 1, 1858. This joint presentation made Wallace known in the scientific community. It also pushed Darwin to publish his full theory in The Origin of Species later that year.
Wallace's adventures and discoveries in the Malay Archipelago were published in his famous book, The Malay Archipelago, in 1869. It became one of the most popular science books of its time and is still read today.
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Life Back in England
In 1862, Wallace returned to England. He organized his collections and gave many talks about his travels. He became good friends with Darwin, Lyell, and other important scientists. During the 1860s, Wallace wrote and lectured to defend the idea of natural selection.
In 1866, Wallace married Annie Mitten. They had three children. In 1872, he built a concrete house called The Dell in Essex, where they lived for several years.
Wallace as a Social Activist
Wallace was not just a scientist; he was also a strong advocate for social change. He became the first president of the Land Nationalisation Society in 1881. He believed that land should be owned by the public, not just a few wealthy people. He also criticized unfair trade policies that hurt working-class people. He became a socialist, believing in a fairer society for everyone.
Wallace also spoke out against eugenics, which was a popular idea at the time. Eugenics suggested that society should control who has children to "improve" the human race. Wallace strongly disagreed, saying that society was too unfair to decide who was "fit" or "unfit." He believed that if people had good living conditions, everyone would thrive.
He also wrote about other important topics, like supporting women's suffrage (the right for women to vote). He was against militarism and war. In 1899, he wrote that wars are often caused by greedy rulers and powerful businesses, and they never truly benefit ordinary people. In 1909, when airplanes were new, he even suggested an international agreement to ban their use in war.
Wallace continued his social activism throughout his life, publishing books on these topics until just before he died.
Later Scientific Work
In 1876, Wallace published a major work called The Geographical Distribution of Animals. In this two-volume book, he mapped out where different animal species live around the world. He divided the Earth into six main animal regions, which are still used today. He explained how things like land bridges, oceans, mountains, and ice ages affect where animals are found. This book was the main text on zoogeography for 80 years.
In 1880, he wrote Island Life, which looked at how animals and plants are distributed on islands. He explained how islands that were never connected to continents (like the Galapagos) have different kinds of animals than islands that used to be connected (like Madagascar). He showed how isolation on islands can lead to unique species.
Wallace was also one of the first scientists to worry about the environment. In his books, he warned about deforestation and soil erosion, especially in tropical areas. He saw how clearing forests for farming could harm the climate and lead to poverty. He wrote that nature should be treated with respect and not destroyed.
In 1904, Wallace wrote Man's Place in the Universe. This was the first serious attempt by a biologist to figure out if there could be life on other planets. He thought Earth was probably the only planet in our solar system that could support life, mainly because it's the only one with liquid water. In 1907, he wrote another book, Is Mars Habitable?, where he argued against the idea that there were Martian canals built by intelligent beings on Mars. He used scientific evidence to show that Mars's climate and atmosphere couldn't support liquid water or large canals.
Death and Legacy
Alfred Russel Wallace died at home on November 7, 1913, at the age of 90. His death was reported widely, and he was called "the last of the giants" among scientists like Darwin. He was buried in a small cemetery in Broadstone, Dorset, as he wished. Later, a medallion of Wallace was placed in Westminster Abbey near Darwin's grave to honor him.
Wallace received many honors during his life, including the Royal Society's Royal Medal and Darwin Medal. He was also awarded the Order of Merit in 1908, which is a very special honor.
For a long time after his death, Wallace was not as famous as Darwin. This might be because he was very modest and supported unpopular ideas. However, in recent years, more people have recognized his important contributions to science. Many books and studies have been published about him.
In 2013, the Natural History Museum in London held events to celebrate 100 years since Wallace's death. A statue of Wallace was unveiled at the museum by Sir David Attenborough. The statue shows Wallace as a young man collecting in the jungle.
Many places and species are named after Wallace. Mount Wallace in California, buildings at universities, and even impact craters on Mars and the Moon bear his name. A group of Indonesian islands is called the Wallacea region in his honor. Hundreds of plants and animals, both living and fossil, have also been named after him, like the gecko Cyrtodactylus wallacei.
Wallace was a very active writer. He published 22 books and over 700 shorter articles. His writings covered many topics, including where animals live, evolution, social issues, and even spiritualism.
See Also
In Spanish: Alfred Russel Wallace para niños
