Darwin and Wallace's theory of evolution was first read aloud
On this day · 1 July 1858
On July 1, 1858, natural selection went public in a quiet London meeting, and almost nobody noticed.
On July 1, 1858, the Linnean Society of London heard the first public statement of evolution by natural selection. Papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace were read aloud by the society’s secretary, J. J. Bennett, to a room that grasped little of what it had just witnessed.
Neither author was present. Darwin was at home, grieving an infant son who had died days before; Wallace was thousands of miles away in the Indonesian islands, unaware the reading was even happening. The joint presentation had been hastily arranged by Darwin’s friends after Wallace independently arrived at the same idea, forcing Darwin’s long-delayed hand.
The papers were read with no fanfare, and no real discussion followed.
The society’s president later judged that the year had produced no striking discoveries. The Origin of Species followed in 1859 and removed all doubt. One of biology’s foundational ideas had its premiere to near silence.
Sources & references
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