One of the great classics of natural history and travel, on par with Charles Darwin's work
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist. He was born on 8 January 1823 in the small village of Usk, Monmouthshire. Shortly after finishing school, Wallace's father passed away and he joined his brother to do work surveying countries for four years. Through this, he acquired the talent for observation and detailed recordings. Alfred Russel Wallace is best known for his theory of natural selection. From 1854 to 1862 he explored the Amazon River with his mentor Henry Walter Bates. During this expedition, he saw differences between the animals in Asia and the animals in Australia. Out of this experience came his theory of natural selection. He wrote a manuscript called On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type. He sent it to Charles Darwin who decided to publish his theory right away. To this day, Wallace's greatest accomplishment was to get Charles Darwin to publish his own theory.
