historical Influences on Charles Darwin
1. I think that Alfred Russell Wallace had the most influence on Darwin's theory. His influence was a positive thing for Darwin because they believed in the same thing as one another. Wallace ended up sharing his theory and Darwin put it out in public before him for all the credit.
2. Wallace contributed to the scientific community by going our on expeditions to get the facts that he needed to support his hypothesis. He only told people what he knew what true and not what he thought was true.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2013/01/09/the-forgotten-naturalist-alfred-russel-wallace/
3. I think that "Organisms with better access to resources will be more successful in their reproductive efforts" is the one that most affected Wallace's work. He believed that whoever can get the most things that they need to live will be the ones that produce more and have more offspring. This influenced the theory by showing that animals with less resources are unable to have as many offspring.
4. I don't think that Darwin could have developed the theory without the help of Wallace just because of the fact that there is so much thought and specific detail for one person to figure out on their own. he wouldn't have had it all correct if he didn't have any influence of Wallace helping him out.
5. People from the church believe Darwin but also believe that God made it this way for a reason. But, there were also people who were completely against it and thought he was going against God.
Very interesting take on the discussion. I do see how their shared information and companionship may have encouraged one another, especially, given the oppressive context of time for scientists. Wallace did a lot of I feel like field work and did gain a vast amount of contributing information. Great post!
ReplyDelete"Wallace ended up sharing his theory and Darwin put it out in public before him for all the credit."
ReplyDeleteNo, actually they jointly published their paper together and both received credit for the idea. Darwin then went on to publish his book and unfortunately that is what most people remember, so Wallace gets shorted, not by Darwin, but by history in general.
I think we can be a little more specific about Wallace's work beyond his ethics as a scientist. Where did he conduct his research? How did he end up contacting Darwin with his theory?
While I agree with your choice of bullet point for Wallace, but isn't it fair to say that all of the bullet points apply equally to both Wallace and Darwin since they both developed the same theory?
By the time Wallace came on the scene, Darwin had already been working on his theory for more than 20 years. It was essentially done, Wallace just provided additional confirmation. But Wallace may have made a different contribution to Darwin, namely the impetus to finally publish his work or risk losing claim to it. I do wonder if Darwin may never have published without Wallace.
Your final section doesn't address the question in the guidelines. It doesn't ask about the response to Darwin's work, it asks about the influence of the church on Darwin's decision to publish (or not to publish) in the first place. Darwin delayed publishing for more than 20 years. Why? What were his concerns? And what role did the church's influence play in this decision to delay publishing?
I disagree when you when you state that Charles Darwin wouldn’t have developed the theory of “Natural Selection” without Alfred Russell Wallace. I also disagree that Wallace had the most influence on him. I believe Darwin saw Wallace as his rival and knew he had to act fast. If you recall by the late 1830’s, Darwin had already realized that biological variation within species was critical. The only thing Wallace’s essay did for Darwin was expedite the writing and publishing of his idea. Darwin realized that if he continued to wait, Wallace might receive all of the credit for the theory of “natural selection.” With this said Darwin was already on the right track and realized that favorable variations would tend to be preserved and unfavorable ones to be destroyed.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that Wallace was a driving force in the development of Darwin’s theory of Natural selection. Wallace’s articles mimicked Darwin's so closely, that it not only inspired him to refine his research but it also led Darwin to finally publish his works, after years of research.
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