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A photograph of Wallace taken in Singapore in 1862

Alfred Russel Wallace OM, FRS (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, biologist and social activist. He is best known for proposing a theory of natural selection. This was published in 1858 together with Charles Darwin's idea.

Wallace did extensive natural history exploring. He went first to the Amazon River basin with Henry Walter Bates, and later to Malaya and Indonesia. He wrote books on both these adventures. While in Indonesia he drew the Wallace Line which divides Indonesia into two parts. On one side are animals of Australasia. On the other side are species mostly of Asian origin. He wrote a book on biogeography (the distribution of animals).