Darwin and Wallace Conflict

Alfred Russel Wallace was his contemporary and collaborated with Darwin on solidifying his Theory of
Evolution through Natural Selection. In fact, Alfred Russel Wallace actually came up with the idea of
natural selection independently, but at the same time as Darwin. The two pooled their data to present
the idea jointly to the Linnaean Society of London.
It wasn't until after this joint venture that Darwin went ahead and published the ideas first in his
book The Origin of Species. Even though both men contributed equally, Darwin with his data from his time
in the Galapagos Islands and South America and Wallace with data from a trip to Indonesia, Darwin
gets most of the credit today. Wallace has been relegated to a footnote in the history of the Theory of
Evolution.
http://evolution.about.com/od/Darwin/tp/People-Who-Influenced-Charles-Darwin.htm

Misconceptions about Darwin

1. Charles Darwin was the first to discover evolution.
Many scientists came up with the idea of evolution even before Darwin. Only that
Darwin was the first to publish not only the theory but also the evidence and
mechanism (natural selection) as to how evolution happens.

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Some Scientists before Darwin

Jean Baptiste Lamarck
Thomas Malthus
Comte be Buffon
Erasmus Darwin
Charles Lyell
etc

2. Charles Darwin was an atheist.

***Contrary to popular belief, Charles Darwin was not an atheist. In fact, at one point, he was
studying to become a clergyman. His wife, Emma Wedgwood Darwin, was a devout Christian and
was very involved with the Church of England. Darwins findings did change his faith over the
years, however. In letters written by Darwin, he would describe himself as agnostic near the
end of his life. Much of his change in faith was actually rooted in the long, painful illness and
death of his daughter, not necessarily his work with evolution. He did believe that religion or faith
was an important part of human existence and never ridiculed or begrudged anyone who wanted
to believe. He often was quoted as saying there was a possibility of some sort of higher power,
but he no longer followed Christianity and it pained him that he could not believe in his favorite
books in the Bible -- The Gospels. The liberal Unitarian Church actually embraced Darwin and his

ideas with praise and began incorporating the ideas of evolution into their belief system.
(http://evolution.about.com/od/Darwin/tp/5-Common-Misconceptions-About-Darwin.htm

)
3. Darwin said that humans evolved from monkeys.
Charles Darwin struggled on deciding whether or not to include his thoughts
on human evolution in his publications for he knew it would be controversial. But then,
he wrote The Descent of Man and explained his hypothesis of how humans evolved. He
said that: Monkeys, apes and humans must have a common ancestor.
***
Darwin said that monkeys, apes and humans must have a common ancestor because
of our great similarities compared to other species. Even in his day it could be shown
that we are more similar to apes than apes are to monkeys.
He wrote The Descent of Man and explained his hypothesis of how humans evolved.
However, he never said that humans evolved from monkeys and this statement shows
an overall misunderstanding of the concept of evolution. Humans are related to
primates, like apes, on the tree of life. Humans are not direct descendants of apes or
monkeys, however, and belong to a different branch of the family tree. It would be
more accurate to say that humans and apes are cousins to put it in familiar terms.

http://evolution.about.com/od/Darwin/tp/5-Common-Misconceptions-About-Darwin.htm

4. Darwin explained the origin of all life

The title is often given as The Origin of the Species whereas it really is On the Origin
of Species which means where do species come from? Answer: They descended from
common ancestors, winnowed by natural selection and not independently created. The Origin is
about the general process of the evolution of species and not about tracing the origin of certain
species including humans. On the Origin of Species is not about the origin of life. Darwin only
demonstrated that various kinds of living and fossilled things in the world are related to one
another because they evolve.