death_date death_place birth_place nationality field birth_date known_for prizes image article_title author_abbrev_bot name
07 november 1913 broadstone , dorset , england , uk llanbadoc , monmouthshire , wales , uk british exploration and social reform , evolutionary biology , zoology , biogeography , 08 january 1823 co-discovery line wallace effect of natural selection pioneering work on biogeography wallace royal société de géographie -lrb- 1870 -rrb- darwin medal -lrb- 1890 medal -rrb- founder 's medal -lrb- 1892 -rrb- linnean medal -lrb- -lrb- 1892 -rrb- copley medal -lrb- 1908 -rrb- darwin-wallace medal -lrb- 1868 gold , 1908 -rrb- order of merit -lrb- 1908 -rrb- -rrb- gold medal of the alfred-russel-wallace-c1895 . jpg alfred russel wallace
 wallace alfred russel wallace
alfred russel wallace

alfred russel wallace -lrb- 8 january 1823 -- 7 november 1913 -rrb- was a british naturalist , explorer , geographer , anthropologist , and biologist .
he is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection ; his paper on the subject was jointly published with some of charles darwin 's writings in 1858 .
this prompted darwin to publish his own ideas in `` on the origin of species . ''
wallace did extensive fieldwork , first in the amazon river basin and then in the malay archipelago , where he identified the faunal divide now termed the wallace line , which separates the indonesian archipelago into two distinct parts : a western portion in which the animals are largely of asian origin , and an eastern portion where the fauna reflect australasia .
he was considered the 19th century 's leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species and is sometimes called the `` father of biogeography '' .
wallace was one of the leading evolutionary thinkers of the 19th century and made many other contributions to the development of evolutionary theory besides being co-discoverer of natural selection .
these included the concept of warning colouration in animals , and the wallace effect , a hypothesis on how natural selection could contribute to speciation by encouraging the development of barriers against hybridisation .
wallace was strongly attracted to unconventional ideas -lrb- such as evolution -rrb- .
his advocacy of spiritualism and his belief in a non-material origin for the higher mental faculties of humans strained his relationship with some members of the scientific establishment .
aside from scientific work , he was a social activist who was critical of what he considered to be an unjust social and economic system in 19th-century britain .
his interest in natural history resulted in his being one of the first prominent scientists to raise concerns over the environmental impact of human activity .
he was also a prolific author who wrote on both scientific and social issues ; his account of his adventures and observations during his explorations in singapore , indonesia and malaysia , `` the malay archipelago '' , was both popular and highly-regarded .
since its publication in 1869 it has never been out of print .
wallace had financial difficulties throughout much of his life .
his amazon and far eastern trips were supported by the sale of specimens he collected and , after he lost most of the considerable money he made from those sales in unsuccessful investments , he had to support himself mostly from the publications he produced .
unlike some of his contemporaries in the british scientific community , such as darwin and charles lyell , he had no family wealth to fall back on , and he was unsuccessful in finding a long-term salaried position , receiving no regular income until he was awarded a small government pension , through darwin 's efforts , in 1881 .
