If ever a scientist didn't get his fair share of the glory, it was Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace, who co-founded the theory of natural selection with the country gentleman Charles Darwin, led a very different life. Forced to leave school and start working at the age of 14, Wallace apprenticed as a surveyor, but used what little spare time he had to continue his unofficial education. Eventually, he set sail for the islands of the South Pacific. In the Malay Archipelago and the Amazon, Wallace worked as a commercial collector, finding exotic specimens for European buyers. Collecting so many specimens from so many locations gave Wallace reason to ponder the differences between species and eventually to publish a manuscript, On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type. Although he didn't use the term "natural selection", he argued the same thing. Rather than send his paper directly to a publisher, Wallace instead sent the manuscript to Charles Darwin, with whom he had initiated a correspondence. Upon seeing Wallace's paper, Darwin realized he was about to be scooped, and decided to end the 20 year delay in publishing his own theory. Wallace's and Darwin's papers were read at the same Linnean Society meeting in London on July 1, 1858. The next year, Darwin published On the Origin of Species.
Wallace remained a gracious man to the last, commenting late in life that his greatest achievement had been to prompt Darwin to publish his own theory.
Follow the links below for more information about Alfred Russel Wallace.
The Alfred Russel Wallace Page
The Darwin-Wallace 1858 Evolution Paper