Tuesday, 8 March 2022, 6.45pm for 7pm
Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in London,
30 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 2BU (Subject to Covid restrictions)
Zoom meeting ID:868 0869 0001, passcode: 880881
Click here for the Zoom link.
Dr. George Beccaloni, a zoologist, evolutionary biologist, taxonomist, museum curator, and science historian who worked at London’s Natural History Museum, will give a talk on the important 19th century scientist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) and the Wallace Correspondence Project (WCP).
The project aims to locate, digitise, catalogue, transcribe, interpret and publish the surviving correspondence and other manuscripts of Wallace. Wallace has very many claims to fame, not least that he is the ‘father’ of evolutionary biogeography and the co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of the process of evolution by natural selection; a discovery he made in Indonesia in 1858.
The WCP has so far obtained electronic copies of 5,688 letters, of which 2,748 were written by Wallace and 2,159 were sent to him. The remaining 781 are third party letters which pertain to him. The letters are a biographical treasure trove, and provide a far better picture of the ‘real’ Wallace than his heavily edited and censored published writings. They are also key to gaining a deeper understanding of his scientific and other work: how and why his ideas arose, and how they developed over time.
In this talk, Dr. Beccaloni will share what the project has achieved so far and what work still needs to be done in order to complete it. Long-time A-IS and former Council Member Lord Gathorne Cranbrook will moderate.
Due to Covid it will be necessary for those attending to proof that they have been vaccinated at least twice and had a negative lateral flow test on the morning of the event. If you are planning to attend the event in person at the Embassy, please register here. If you are inviting non-members to join this event (either face to face or via Zoom), please ask your guests to register using the same link above.
