16 Jul (Fri): The Wallace Talk: "An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles" by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski

Charles Darwin has been lionized as one of the giants of western thought for his theory of evolution.

from "The Man who wasn't Darwin" National Geographic Jul 2010.

But what about Alfred Russel Wallace, a contemporary of Darwin’s who independently developed the theory of natural selection during his eight-year sojourn in Southeast Asia? Why did Darwin become a household name while Wallace became a historical footnote?

The speaker has been following Alfred Russel Wallace for some 30 years, retracing many of his voyages in the Amazon and Southeast Asia.

During his epic eight-year journey Wallace caught, skinned and pickled 125,660 specimens of “natural productions” including 212 new species of birds, 900 new species of beetles and 200 new species of ants. Consider just the logistics — how could one man, on a limited budget and without governmental or organizational support, living rough in rainforests, mount and transport 8,000 bird skins and 100,000 insects?

from "Look Inside the Specimen Cabinet of
a Charles Darwin Colleague"
Discovery News 24 Nov 09.

Who was this man? What drove him? How did he break the cool Victorian mould by writing passionately about finding new butterflies and birds?

More about the talk and the speaker on The Biodiversity Crew @ NUS.

ALL ARE WELCOME

Please register for the talk with the registration form at this link

In conjunction with the International Year of Biodiversity 2010, this talk is jointly presented by the National Parks Board & Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore.

Time: 6pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre 22, Faculty of Science cience Drive 2, National University of Singapore. map to LT22