Alfred Russel Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) was a British naturalist, explorer and biologist who conceived the theory of evolution by natural selection independently of Charles Darwin. After collecting in the Amazon, he spent eight years in the Malay Archipelago, and from Ternate in 1858 he sent Darwin the essay that led to their joint presentation that year. He founded the science of biogeography, drawing the boundary between Asian and Australian fauna now called the Wallace Line, and wrote The Malay Archipelago and The Geographical Distribution of Animals. He also campaigned for land reform and defended spiritualism.