November 2008: Natural Selection and Beyond: The Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace

Natural Selection and Beyond:
Celebrating the Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace

22nd November
Burlington House, London SW1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 - 1913) was one of the late nineteenth century's most potent intellectual forces. His link to Darwin as co-discoverer of the principle of natural selection alone would have secured him a place in history (presented in a joint paper to the Linnean Society with Darwin in 1858), but he went on to complete work entitling him to recognition as the 'father' of modern biogeographical studies, as a pioneer in the field of astrobiology, and as an important contributor to subjects as far-ranging as glaciology, land reform, anthropology and ethnography and epidemiology. Beyond this, many are coming to regard Wallace as the pre-eminent field biologist, collector, and naturalist of tropical regions (he collected 125,000 natural history specimens in SE Asia alone). Add to that the fact that he was a vocal supporter of spiritualism, socialism, and the rights of the ordinary person, and it quickly becomes apparent that Wallace was a man of extraordinary breadth of attention. Yet his work in many of these areas is still not well known, and still less recognised is his relevance to current day research almost 100 years after his death. This day conference will mark the launch of an authoritative edited volume - Natural Selection and Beyond: the Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace (Oxford University Press) - a rich collection of writings by more than twenty historians and scientists reviewing and reflecting on the work that made Wallace a famous man in his own time, and a figure of extraordinary influence and continuing interest today.

PROGRAMME

9:15 Registration

9:30 Introduction: Prof. Aubrey Manning

9:40 Dr. Peter Raby: Alfred Russel Wallace: The Evolution of an Unforgotten
Naturalist

10:30 Dr. George Beccaloni: Wallace, Darwin and the Discovery of Natural Selection

Roy Davies: Wallace, Darwin and the Discovery of Natural Selection - a New Interpretation of the Events

11:40 Coffee

12:10 Prof. Charles Smith: Wallace and Final Causes: Spiritualism, Evolution, and Beyond

1:00 Lunch

2:10 Prof. David Collard: Alfred Russel Wallace as a Social Reformer

3:00 Tea

3:30 Plenary Dialogue

4:20 Wine Reception

THE SPEAKERS

Professor Aubrey Manning , OBE, FRSE is Emeritus Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh and has presented numerous BBC television and radio programmes on natural history including BBC2's Earth Story and Talking Landscapes. Most recently he could be heard on Radio 4 series such as The Sounds of Life, which attempted to recreate the first sounds heard on earth and explored natural sounds ranging from the seabed to the jungle, and The Rules of Life which attempts to get across the way natural selection operates at all stages of an animal's life history. He has been Chairman of the Scottish Wildlife Trust and a Trustee of the National Museums of Scotland and Project Wallacea.

Dr. George W. Beccaloni is an evolutionary biologist/entomologist who is currently the curator of grasshoppers, cockroaches and related insects at The Natural History Museum, London. George founded the A. R.Wallace Memorial Fund which has restored Wallace’s grave in Broadstone, Dorset, and has erected
monuments to commemorate him at his birthplace and elsewhere. He played a key role in helping The NHM acquire an important collection of Wallace’s manuscripts, books and insect specimens from his surviving family in 2002. He is co-editor of Natural Selection and Beyond: The Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace.

Professor Charles H. Smith is Science Librarian and Professor of Library Public Services at Western Kentucky University in the U.S.A. Charles is primarily a biogeographer by training, and has published research in that field, history of science, library science, bibliography, and systems theory. His books include Alfred Russel Wallace: An Anthology of His Shorter Writings, Biodiversity Studies: A Bibliographic Review, and the co-edited Natural Selection and Beyond: The Intellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace. He has also created and maintains a dozen free access informational websites on subjects ranging from music to biogeography, including The Alfred Russel Wallace Page.

Professor David Collard - After a first class honours in the Economics Tripos at Cambridge in 1960 David Collard took up lectureships at the Universities of Wales and Bristol . In 1978 he was appointed to the Chair of Economics at the University of Bath where he has been pro-Vice-Chancellor and is now Professor Emeritus. His main interests are in welfare economics and the history of economics and he has written extensively on Malthus, Bentham, Pigou, Marshall, Hicks and other leading economists. He is currently working on the problem of choice across the generations.

Roy Davies - In a BBC career spanning 30 years, Roy Davies wrote, produced and directed many acclaimed programmes for the BBC2 archaeology and history series Chronicle. In his seven years as editor of the history series Timewatch he commissioned ground-breaking investigative documentaries which challenged popular historical beliefs. His final position at the BBC before retiring in 1995 was as Head of Factual Programmes for BBC Wales. He is now a visiting lecturer in screenwriting at the London College of Communication, part of London 's University of the Arts.

Dr. Peter Raby has lectured in Drama and English at Homerton College , Cambridge for thirty years. His books include Fair Ophelia - a life of Harriet Smithson Berlioz - studies of Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley, biographies of Samuel Butler and Alfred Russel Wallace, and Bright Paradise, a book about Victorian scientific travellers. He is the editor of two Cambridge Companions, on Wilde and Pinter, and has written extensively on modern drama and theatre. He is currently working on a new study of Wilde, and on an expanded second edition of the Cambridge Companion to Pinter (November 2009).

Tickets, to include coffee, tea and lunch are:

• £75 (SMN Members)
• £85 (Non-Members)
• £30 concessions (full time students only)

Click for booking form and downloadable leaflet

For further information, please contact:

Conference Administrator, Scientific and Medical Network, PO Box 11 , Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos GL56 0ZF.

Tel: +44 (0) 1608 652000 Fax: +44 (0) 1608 652001

Email: info@scimednet.org Website: www.scimednet.org