As I researched the short list of great thinkers and scientists included with this assignment, the thought occurred to me that all of them brought something significant to the table as it pertains to evolution. For example, though Lamarck's theories have largely been discredited-such as extinction does not exist, and instead animals just die and become different species-Lamarck does deserve credit for initiating the idea that traits were inherited. Cuvier came along and proved that extinctions were in fact a reality, but his theories on evolution beyond that were still laced with creationist ideas that did not hold up scientifically. Though these men had some influence, they were not enough to completely change the framework of how the scientific community looked at the concept of evolution.
That distinction, in my opinion, belongs to Alfred Russel Wallace. I chose Wallace because his work so closely resembled Darwin's-right down to him even using similar terminology to describe the support of his theories. Wallace went on many ship explorations, and developed the theory of Natural Selection-calling Sarawak Law, a reference to a part of Borneo he spent significant time on during the wet season. He thought of the idea as a "branching tree", where new species come from old species much like new twigs grow from older branches. My source was PBS.org, and it a link is listed here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/great-minds-think-alike.html
The bullet point that Wallace addresses is the following:
" If the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be
different. Organisms with those new adaptive traits will have greater reproductive success than
others and those new beneficial traits will spread, producing a change in the population. This is the
process of natural selection, essentially the process of the natural environment selecting the
organisms that will be most successful."
Wallace strongly supports this theory with the idea that identical species could and in fact did exist in completely different climates-and the contrary, that animals existed in one place with the same climate as the country near it where none of those animals were-suggesting that the idea of what he referred to as "special creation"-and what we now refer to as Intelligent Design-was unsupported. Otherwise animals in similar climates only 20 miles or so from each other would be the same, and not completely different.
It is questionable as to whether or not Darwin's theory would have come to light without Wallace. The reason being that Wallace at a certain point began corresponding with Darwin, and shared this theory with him. Now, because Darwin had come up with virtually the exact same information, it is possible-maybe even likely-that he would have developed it without Wallace. After all, Wallace sent his theory to Darwin after Darwin had written the chapter in his book that addressed Natural Selection. However, Darwin had been more concerned about publishing his work, a fear Wallace did not share. Wallace had in fact already had his theories published in magazines, to very little fanfare or regard. So essentially the two men supported each other's theories simultaneously, without even realizing it. I think a man like Wallace at the very least completely legitimizes Darwin's claims and makes it far easier for the many doubters of that era to accept this new information.
With regard to Darwin publishing his book The Origin of Species, for many reasons-political and otherwise-any notion that strayed from the church's ideas about man and his/her evolution was greeted with scorn and ridicule. Lamarck, for example, was vilified in most scientific circles(he was also French, and this was post-revolution so the French were very unpopular). So needless to say Darwin was very hesitant to share his findings with a country whose leaders were more than happy to marry church and state. This is why I think Wallace is so important, because his findings gave Darwin the confidence and motivation he needed to publish his now famous book.
