There are a lot of famous and unfamiliar names that can be associated with the field of naturalism. A naturalist is someone who is considered to be an expert in natural history and that his or her expertise is practiced and applied through the course of art or literature (Loudon). One of the most famous naturalists in the world is Charles Darwin, who we know as the father of Evolution. Additionally, some of the famous naturalists are George Culver, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Joy Adamson, Alexander Von Humboldt, Henry David Thoreau, Steve Irwin and Alfred Russell Wallace. This paper will discuss the contributions of Alfred Russell Wallace on either art or literature regarding natural history with him being one of the most famous naturalists in the world.
Alfred Russell Wallace is of British nationality and is known for his contributions as naturalist, biologist, and explorer. He has expertise in the fields of exploration, evolutionary biology, zoology, biogeography and social reform. He has been very famous around the world because of his works on the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection of Charles Darwin way back 1858. This theory was founded by Alfred independently through his research on Malay Archipelago. Many calls this notion to be Alfred getting off the shadows of Charles Darwin as people realize why Charles Darwin garnered all the credits when it came to the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection. Furthermore, Alfred Wallace is considered to be the Father of Biogeography due to his expertise on this field.
He was born on the 8th day of January 1823 in the area of Monmouthshire in the United Kingdom. He died at the age of 90 in the 7th day of November 1913 in their home known as the Old Orchard. He was buried in a small cemetery in the Broadstone Dorset in England, together with other prominent British scientists as he wished to his wife before he died. A medallion was placed in the cemetery as a form of giving back to all his contributions by his fellow scientists, as well as colleagues.
He was enticed with the chronicles of the earlier naturalists like Alexander von Humboldt, William Henry Edwards as well as Charles Darwin that is why he decided to take a glance to what these people used to do. He started loving to study the nature as he collected insects and other specimens of animals to be sold and traded to the collectors at their time. Also, he started exploring inland and carefully discussed his findings ended him coming up with new discoveries. With these discoveries he had made, Alfred Wallace became more attached to the field of naturalism.
Alfred Wallace’s journey did not stop in just collecting specimens and studying it. He insisted on himself that he should make a way for him to be able to share what his experiences and learning can contribute to the field of natural history. He started achieving this goal through giving numerous lectures to different organizations who are also interested to such matters. He started with the Zoological Society in London and then followed by other organizations that are near within his vicinity. He also shared his learnings and consulted them to Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer and other pertinent scientists at that time just to validate and nullify some of his understandings. That is how determined Alfred is to have relevant contributions to the field of naturalism.
His life is not solely devoted to being a naturalist. At the age of 41, he got engaged to the daughter of Lewis Lee, who used to be Wallace’s opponent in chess. They had three children whose names are Herbert, Violet and William Wallace.
It was in the late 1860s and 1870s when Wallace experienced financial difficulties that made it hard for him to publish one of his works — The Geographical Distribution of Animals. He has to work as a curator in a museum and to write papers for publication for the sake of earning enough money to sustain their necessities and to be able to publish his works as well. In the midst of this financial difficulty, there came Charles Darwin, who helped Wallace to get a government pension which then assisted him in publishing a book and discovering more than what he has contributed.
Other than being a naturalist, he was also once a social activist in his time. John Stuart Mill was the first person who tapped Alfred Wallace to be part of an initiative and formation. Mill invited Wallace to be part of the Land Tenure Reform Association, which has been dissolved after Mill’s death. Wallace’s activism did not stop after the formation has been dissolved rather he continued writing papers opposing those people who have nothing to do with the politics, policy making and policy implementation activities in almost six years. One of the ideologies that he opposed is the eugenics that further provides division of the masses. He was at the age of 56 at that time, and that showed that his age did not let himself be deprived of the political issues existing inside the systems of the environment he was part of.
In his 90 years in the world, Alfred Wallace was able to publish several articles and books which made him more popular in the field of naturalism. He was able to publish Island Life, The Geographic Distribution of Animals, Palm Trees of the Amazon and their Uses, The Malay Archipelago, Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection, Tropical Nature and Other Essays, Darwinism: An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection with Applications, Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, Man’s Place in the Universe and My Life.
It was in 2002 when a science historian tried to evaluate and have a quantitative analysis on all the published and unpublished works of Alfred Wallace. It started from the very first time that Wallace went out to go on trip up to the last moment that he was writing before he died. The historian, then, gave the statistics that Alfred Wallace was able to publish 22 books that are of full length and more or less 747 shorter literatures. This count of short literatures where further classified as 29% about biogeography and natural history, 27% on the theory of evolution and natural selection, 25% on his commentaries on social and political issues, 12% tackles the science of anthropology and 7& were written for the purpose of spiritualism. This breakdown shows that Alfred Wallace does not bound himself in being just a scientist rather also as socialist, reformist and spiritualistic.
Just the same with the other naturalists, Alfred Wallace had controversies that have almost brought his credibility down. One of these has something to do with Spiritualism. People always argue about mixing science and religion, and that makes it difficult for him to be able to study people with different spiritual cultures because people look at him as a biased to science individual. Next controversy is Alfred Wallace’s idea on the Flat Earth wager which is a contest through the usage of a scientific study which Wallace wagered due to his financial difficulties. He was declared as the winner of the contest; however, another person manifested that he must not win due to personal interest. The third controversy is an issue on anti-vaccination campaign where he started questioning the effectiveness of vaccination. It was hard for him to discuss the efficacy of vaccination mainly because the majority does not know how vaccination works in the human immune system.
His contributions have been very helpful to all fields that made the people idolize him. All because of his knowledge and curiosity, he has been elected in the Royal Society and got Copley Medal too. There were other medals and merits he got, and that made him known around the world. These other awards include the Darwin Medal, Order of Merit, Royal Geographical Society’ Founder Medal, Linnean Society’s Gold Medal and of course, the Darwin-Wallace award.
Tributes after his death are also done even until now as people still recognize Wallace’s greatness. This includes the latest puppet show of his book, The Animated Life of AR Wallace, the sculpture and portrait in the Natural History Museum in London, the Operation Wallacea and other infrastructure which were named after Alfred Russell Wallace.
Works Cited:
Buder, S. Visionaries and Planners: The Garden City Movement and the Modern Community. Oxford University Press. 1990. Print.
Friedman, A. Alfred Russel Wallace and the Origin of Species. Resource Center. 2012. Web. https://www1.umn.edu/ships/modules/biol/wallace-text.pdf
Heij, C.J. Biographical Notes of Antonie Augustus Bruijn (1842–1890). IBP Press, Bogor. 2011. Print.
HistoryOrb.com Staff. Alfred Russell Wallace. History Orb. 2000. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. (http://www.historyorb.com/people/alfred-russel-wallace)
Loudon, J. The Entertaining Naturalist. H.G. Bohn. Oxford University. 1850. Print.
Natural History Museum Staff. Alfred Russell Wallace Brought Out of Darwin’s Shadow. Natural History Museum. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2013/january/alfred-russel-wallace-is-brought-out-of-darwins-shadow118456.html).
