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Celebrations for Darwin downplay Wallace's role

Nature volume 451, page 1050 (2008)Cite this article

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Sir

We agree with Kevin Padian ('Darwin's enduring legacy' Nature 451, 632–634; 2008) that next year's Darwin anniversaries — the 200th anniversary of his birth and 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species — should be celebrated enthusiastically. But few seem to be aware that this year marks the 150th anniversary of one of the greatest discoveries in the history of science: the theory of evolution by natural selection. Although this idea is often credited solely to Charles Darwin, it was independently discovered by naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace 150 years ago this month, while he was suffering from fever on the Indonesian island of Halmahera. Wallace sent Darwin an essay detailing the theory, which was published, together with two short excerpts from Darwin's unpublished writings on the subject, by the Linnean Society of London in August 1858.

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  1. Entomology Department, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    George W. Beccaloni & Vincent S. Smith

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  1. George W. Beccaloni
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  2. Vincent S. Smith
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Beccaloni, G., Smith, V. Celebrations for Darwin downplay Wallace's role. Nature 451, 1050 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/4511050d

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