Blogs Gil Troy Overshadowed by Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace Was the Most Admirable Man in Science History
May 2, 2018Overshadowed by Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace Was the Most Admirable Man in Science History
tags: Science,evolution,Alfred Russel Wallace,Darwin
Although Alfred Russel Wallace should be as famous as Charles Darwin for discovering that species evolve – Wallace was evolved enough to delight in Darwin’s glory, not stew in Darwinian jealousy.
Thomas Edison’s one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration genius formula got it half right; it’s also 150 percent marketing. Although we imagine lone inventors shouting “Eureka,” most discoveries are three-dimensional, involving colleagues, predecessors—and competitors. Edison should be known as one inventor of the light bulb, along with Joseph Swan, Henry Woodward, Matthew Evans, William Sawyer and Albon Man. In a less pr-centered world, we would think of Elisha Gray and Antonio Meucci, with Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, Karl Benz with Henry Ford’s motor car, and Alfred Russel Wallace with Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Wallace’s obscurity is so striking because his input was so important yet Darwin’s name is now so dominant. The light bulb isn’t the Edisunlight, the phone is not the Bellaphone and the car is a car, with Ford, Mercedes-Benz and other brands. But the theory is Darwin’s, the school of thought Darwinism, the mode of competition Darwinian...
comments powered by Disqus
News
- The Senate Has Used the Filibuster to Block Civil Rights Bills for Decades. That’s Another Reason for Dems to Ditch It
- Democrats are getting Chuck Grassleyed
- Washington History Seminar TODAY: Claudio Saunt's "Unworthy Republic"
- The Bonnie and Richard Reiss Graduate Institute for Constitutional History Seminar Spring 2021 Session (Virtual)
- Hank Aaron's Lasting Impact is Measured in More than Home Runs
- We’ve Had a White Supremacist Coup Before. History Buried It
- Historian Discusses The Politics That Shape U.S. History In Schools
- Keri Leigh Merritt on White Myths, Lost Causes & True History
- When White Extremism Seeps Into The Mainstream
- A TV Documentary Shows the Deep Roots of Right-Wing Conspiracy