The Darwin-Wallace Mystery Solved: Darwin Vindicated from Accusations of Deceit

[DavidDvorkin]

A National University of Singapore. study has traced historical shipping records and vindicated Darwin from accusations of deceit.

For the past four decades, Charles Darwin had been accused of keeping the essay of fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace for a fortnight, thereby enabling him to revise elements of his theory of evolution, before jointly announcing the theory of evolution by natural selection in July 1858. Just recently, two researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS), supported by a private donation, reconstructed the route taken by Wallace's letter to Darwin from Ternate and provided evidence that Wallace sent the letter a month later than historians had always assumed, thus clearing Darwin of the accusations against him.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120308062545.htm

[On the Road]

1. I Love This Kind of Historical Research

It is amazing what can be established after so many years.

It sounds, however, like the researcher didn't so much establish that the document was sent in the time frame Darwin specified, but that there was a series of shipping connections from Southeast Asia that could have reached London the day before Darwin claimed he received it. Unless there is evidence not referred to in the abstract, 'proved' seems like a strong word.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. It's really ingenious, in any case.

[exboyfil]

3. Wallace always deferred to Darwin so

I don't think it was a problem. Wallace can be thanked for giving Darwin the push to publish. Wallace was a remarkable man in his own right and should be better known than he is.

When I think how Darwin gets slandered after the work he did, it makes me very angry. I sat through "The Truth Project" at my church and did the best I could fighting off the lies and misrepresentations of Darwin. I picture Darwin as a young man boarding the Beagle, and the effort he went to to bring understanding to the world. He is a hero (as is Wallace).

One particular calumny about Darwin was that he was a racist. He was ahead of his time in this regard. These "The Truth Project" will quote people who were actual racists to support their position.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. From what I've read about Darwin

he was a thoroughly admirable man in his personal life. His friends and family seem to have loved him.