Biography of Alfred Russel Wallace - British Naturalist

Alfred Russel Wallace was born on January 8, 1823. He is renowned as a British naturalist, explorer, traveler, anthropologist, and biologist. Wallace is famous as the first to propose the theory of natural selection. The theory that later made Charles Darwin famous for its evolutionary Theory.

Wallace did a lot of research into the field. His first research was conducted on the Amazon River, in 1846. At that time he was very young, aged 23 years. Then he continued his research in the Indonesian Archipelago.


From his expedition on the Amazon River, Wallace collected specimens of various types of insects. The specimens were brought home to England and then sold. At that time, Europeans were very interested in various insect specimens. Wallace's insect specimen is sold and the money he uses to make an expedition in the Indonesian archipelago.

On the way in the years 1848 - 1854, Wallace arrived in Singapore. For eight years (1854 - 1862) he explored various regions of the archipelago. From his explorations, Wallace wrote a book entitled "The Malay Archipelago".

During his expedition in Indonesia, Wallace is estimated to have traveled a distance of 22,500 Km. The distance is traveled by traveling as much as 60-70 times. Wallace collected 8,050 specimens, 500 specimens of skeletons and bones of various animals, 310 mammalian specimens, and 100 reptile specimens. The rest, which is about 109,700 is an insect specimen, including butterflies, Wallace's favorite insect.

Wallace wrote all his research and observations during his expedition in Indonesia. Later, the note was sent to England via ships with Europe, so as not to disappear.

On January 8, 1858, Wallace stopped by on Ternate Island. There he was infected with malaria. But Wallace kept pushing himself to write a letter to Charles Darwin in England about his observations.

In an expedition in Indonesia, Wallace also found an imaginary line dividing the flora and fauna of Indonesia into two major parts. This line is known as the Wallace line. In the western part of the Wallace line, the flora and fauna have similar features with the flora and fauna of the Asian Continent. While in the east, the flora and fauna of Indonesia have common features with the flora and fauna of the Australian Continent.

In the 19th century, Wallace was a leading expert in the spreading of animal species. He is also often referred to as the father of Evolutionary Biogeography. Evolutionary biogeography is a study of animal species and their spreading areas.

In addition, Wallace was also a revolutionary thinker in the 19th century and contributed greatly to the formulation of the Theory of Evolution. He is also one of the founders of the Theory of Natural Selection. Wallace says that the process of natural selection can contribute to the diversity of fauna.

Wallace's letter sent from Ternate Island was later known as "Letter from Ternate". The letter became famous for being accompanied by a paper entitled "On The Tendency Of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type." In this paper Wallace developed the concept of natural selection, saying that natural selection influences the survival of certain fauna species.

If the fauna succeeds in the process of natural selection, then the species will continue to live. But if not, they will become extinct.

The concept of natural selection proposed by Wallace turned out to support Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution. In 1859, Charles Darwin wrote a book entitled "The Origin of Species" which describes his theory of evolution. Later, Charles Darwin and Wallace were declared the founders of the concept of evolution in animals.

Wallace's career continued to develop and he was elected chairman of the British Association's biological division in 1876. He was later awarded a civilian pensioner with a salary of 200 pounds per year, granted by the British government in 1881.

Two years later, Wallace was elected a member of the Royal Society. He also gained confidence as the leader of The International Congress of Spiritualists, in 1898. And many more brilliant career from Wallace.

Wallace died on November 7, 1913, at the age of 90. Here are some awards that Wallace accepted:
1. Order of Merit (1908)
2. The Royal Society's Royal Medal (1868)
3. Copley Medal (1908)
4. The Royal Geographical Society's Founder's Medal (1892)
5. Linnean Society's Gold Medal (1892)
6. Darwin - Wallace Medal (1908)
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