Which scientist independently conceived natural selection similar to Darwin's?

• A. Gregor Mendel
• B. Alfred Russel Wallace
• C. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
• D. Thomas Huxley

Answer: (B)

Alfred Russel Wallace independently conceived natural selection, arriving at a theory similar to Darwin’s through his own observations in the Malay Archipelago. In 1858 he wrote a concise essay outlining natural selection as the mechanism driving evolution and sent it to Darwin. Faced with Wallace’s parallel insight, Darwin moved to publish his own ideas, leading to a joint presentation and eventually Darwin’s more thorough treatise. This situates Wallace as the scientist who independently arrived at the same mechanism, prompting the broader recognition of natural selection as the engine of evolution. Mendel’s work is foundational for genetics, not the mechanism of evolution; Lamarck proposed inheritance of acquired traits, a different framework later superseded by genetics; Huxley championed Darwin’s theory but did not independently conceive the idea.