Exhibition on Victorian naturalist

SINGAPORE - The Science Centre Singapore is holding the country's largest exhibition on Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who used Singapore as a base in the mid-1800s for his travels in the region while he was building his theories on evolution.

Wallace and Charles Darwin are the "fathers" of the theory of evolution by natural selection, which explains how species evolve or change through time through genetic mutations or as they adapt to different environments.

The exhibition reveals how Wallace's work in Singapore and the Malay Archipaelago led him to formulate his theories.

It vividly depicts through illustrations, videos and photographs his eight-year expedition throughout the region.

It also showcases some of the hundreds of thousands of specimens he collected, such as the resplendent Golden Birdwing butterfly.

Wallace died in 1913 at the age of 90.

The exhibition, called Island Adventurer: Alfred Russel Wallace And The Quest For The Origins Of Species, runs until Nov 30.

Separately, a private fund-raising campaign supported by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore is under way to erect a statue of Wallace at the upcoming Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.

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