Alfred Russel Wallace

Given all the attention that Darwin is receiving this year it was nice to read this story about the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace.  He was a contemporary of Darwin's and developed his own idea of evolution around the same time as Darwin.  In fact, it was a letter from Wallace that spurred Darwin to finally publish his On the Origin of Species.  They became friends after that and Darwin even secured a pension for him towards the end of his life.  Wheras Darwin's hypotheses were developed in South America, Wallace's were conceived based on travels and his study of animals inhabiting the islands to the north of Australia.  I'm happy to see that historians are becoming more interested in getting this guy's work more recognition.