Awards & Winners

Alfred Russel Wallace

Date of Birth 08-January-1823
Place of Birth Llanbadoc
(United Kingdom)
Nationality United Kingdom
Also know as Alfred Wallace
Profession Naturalist, Biologist, Evolutionary Biologist, Geographer, Explorer, Scientist, Anthropologist
Quotes
  • On the Law Which has Regulated the Introduction of Species 1855
Alfred Russel Wallace OM FRS 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.

Awards by Alfred Russel Wallace

Check all the awards nominated and won by Alfred Russel Wallace.

1908


Copley Medal
(On the ground of the great value of his numerous contributions to natural history, and of the part he took in working out the theory of the origin of species by natural selection.)

1892


Founder's Gold Medal
(The well-known naturalist and traveller and co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of the theory of natural selection, in recognition of the high geographical value of his great works)