Wallace’s travels traced on map of Malay ArchipelagoWIKIMEDIA, RCASHMAN
Historian John van Wyhe of the National University of Singapore has released a new book that claims to resolve the debate over whether Charles Darwin cribbed his theory of evolution through natural selection from Alfred Wallace. Most believe that the two scientists discovered the theory of evolution independently: Darwin during his trip to the Galapagos Islands and Wallace during his 8-year trip to the Malay Archipelago. However, uncertainty about exactly when Wallace mailed a draft of his essay outlining his discovery to Darwin led to speculation that Darwin plagiarized his work from Wallace.
Van Wyhe used historical documents to trace the route of Wallace’s letter and demonstrated that Darwin came up with his theory before receiving Wallace’s letter, confirming that the men developed their theories ...
