(Details and further resources at end of article)

Although the reading of the joint papers of Darwin and Wallace before the Linnean Society was the first public introduction of the theory that was to revolutionize biology and our understanding of man's place in nature, almost nobody took notice at the time.

As Ernst Mayr noted in his book The Growth of Biological Thought:


This was partly because the papers by Darwin and Wallace were buried within the reading of several other papers following a long session devoted to general business matters of the Linnean Society.

Furthermore, the brief sketches of the theory provided by Darwin and Wallace in these papers were simply insufficient to carry the weight of the argument they were making. The reading of these papers at this meeting served primarily as a means to put a marker in the record that these two eminent scientists had independently arrived at a novel solution to what was a long and vexing problem about the diversity of life across the globe.

The reading of these papers was an event hurriedly arranged by Darwin's friends, especially Sir Charles Lyell and Dr. J. D. Hooker, in response to Darwin's shock at having received a letter from Wallace describing the same theory that Darwin had been working on in private for almost 20 years.

Fearing that their friend would eventually be scooped, Lyell, Hooker, and others had been urging Darwin to write up a brief summary of his version of the theory. Upon receiving the letter from Wallace, Darwin rushed his summary to completion so that the two papers could be read together and both scientists would receive credit for the discovery.

The importance of the theory of evolution by natural selection was not fully appreciated by the world at large until the release the following year of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, which carefully laid out the argument, backed up by the evidence that elegantly supported the theory.

Although the reading of these papers had little immediate effect, the date of July 1st, 1858 stands as the official birthdate of the theory of evolution by natural selection, and it is a date well deserving of celebration.

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Details from the California Academy of Sciences

A Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Publication of The Origin of Species
Lecture by Michael T. Ghiselin, Senior Research Fellow
Date: Tuesday, July 1, 3:00 pm
Location: San Francisco County Fair Building (former Hall of Flowers) adjacent to the Strybing Arboretum.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is widely considered one of the greatest intellectual revolutionaries of all time. The revolution that bears his name is still in progress.

Join Academy staff as they celebrate the anniversary of the Reading of the Joint Communication by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace to the Linnean Society of London. Michael T. Ghiselin, a leader authority on Darwin, will lecture on this momentous event, and its significance.
 

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Further Resources

Linnean Society Celebration 
Complete text of Wallace-Darwin joint paper 
University of Cambridge Anniversary Festival
Darwin's Complete Works Online
How Darwin Won the Evolution Race
Richard Dawkins' website

On the Origin of Species - The complete text online
The Discovery of Evolution - An excellent overview book by David Young