News and Views

8th July 2022

Medals Awarded to Discoverer of Evolution by Natural Selection to be Sold

The prestigious medals awarded to honour the discovery of evolution by natural selection will be sold at auction in a few day's time. This is arguably the most important scientific  theory ever proposed, so these awards must surely be some of the most important cultural objects in the history of science.

Well, not really, but on this day in 1858, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's independently originated identical theories of evolution by natural selection, were announced at a meeting of the Linnean Society of London. Their joint paper on the subject was published a month later, revolutionising the field of biology and shaking the foundations of religious belief (and, no, the paper was not ignored as many have said, look out for a paper I will be publishing soon!).

By Dr George Beccaloni, February 2022 (revised July 2022).

By George Beccaloni (Chairman of the Wallace Memorial Fund)

The Usk Civic Society invited me to unveil a bronze bust of Wallace, which was to be installed on a plinth in the town square of Usk, Wales, Wallace's birthplace, on the 6th November 2021. I asked Bill Bailey, the Wallace Memorial Fund's Patron, whether he might find time in his hectic schedule to do the unveiling instead of me and to my surprise he kindly agreed. I gave a speech about Wallace's life and work instead.