By Lee-Sim Lim

When we think of the theory of evolution, immediately, we will recall Charles Darwin.  Then, may be some of us will think of Alfred Wallace, a man who play an equally important role in discovering the theory of evolution about 150 years ago.  Unlike Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace’s theory of evolution focused more on the concept of natural selection rather than adaptation, which may be the reason why he was a less controversial icon than Charles Darwin during their time.

Last year, we were celebrating for the 200^th birthday of Charles Darwin, his discovery of theory of evolution and the book he written, “On the Origin of Species”.  Meanwhile, it was a good step taken by Charles H. Smith from Western Kentucky University to also write about Alfred Wallace and his contributions and discoveries in various areas of natural science throughout his life, included geography, evolution, anthropology and environmental conservationist.  In the Geography Compass review, Charles Smith also mentioned about Alfred Wallace’s invention of the strategy in handling landownership when he was the president of Land Nationalisation Society.

This year is the 350^th anniversary of the Royal Society.  Concordance to this, Alfred Russel Wallace was selected as one of the ten outstanding Royal Society Fellow and was commemorated in a new stamp series by the Royal Mail for the Royal Society anniversary celebration.  Of course, we will never forget about the Wallace Line, a line that separated ecozones of Asia on Sundaland and Wallacea on far east of Southeast Asia.  Apart from evolution, we will also remember Alfred Wallace when we think of Southeast Asia and Orangutans.

Read about Charles Smith’s review published in Geography Compass

Watch the slideshow produced by Paul Kerley to introduce the stamp series for 350^th anniversary of the Royal Society, which Alfred Wallace was one of the first class scientist commemorated in the series.

Location of the Wallace Line in Southeast Asia