(October 26, 2014 at 10:48 am)Chas Wrote:(October 26, 2014 at 10:43 am)Chuck Wrote: Alfred Wallace was a British biologist contemporary with Darwin, and came up with the theory of evolution through natural selection independently of Darwin at virtually the same time. He is not given enough credit as codiscoverer of evolution. He is now mainly remembered for some secondary discoveries about species distribution. The Wallace line near Australia is named for him.
That's not quite accurate. Darwin had a decade or two on Wallace and a much more developed and supported theory.
He hadn't published yet when he was contacted by Wallace, prompting Darwin to get his ass in gear to retain precedence.
In biology the date of publication is usually assigned as the official date of credit.
