John van Wyhe
John van Wyhe is a British historian of science, with a focus on Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, at the National University of Singapore. He holds various academic and research positions, ranging from founder and director of The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online, Scientific Associate, The Natural History Museum, a Fellow of the Linnean Society and a Member of the British Society for the History of Science. He has given more than 50 public lectures on Darwin in more than a dozen countries. He lectures and broadcasts on Darwin, evolution, science and religion and the history of science around the world. He also wrote The Darwin Experience, a biographical book about Charles Darwin.
Van Wyhe has an M.A. from University College London and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He accepted a Senior Research Fellowship at the National University of Singapore in 2002 where he both founded the Darwin Online project and edited the Science section of the Victorian Web.
A new edition of his 2008 biography of Darwin, "Darwin: The Man, his great voyage, and his Theory of Evolution", has appeared under the banner of the Natural History Museum.
Research
For the Darwin bicentenary year of 2009 van Wyhe published four books on Darwin: Darwin's shorter publications, Darwin's notebooks from the voyage of the Beagle, Darwin in Cambridge and an accessible biography: Darwin.Recent projects include challenging the assumed view that Darwin held back or kept his theory secret for twenty years and restoring Darwin's student rooms at Christ's College, Cambridge.
In addition to maintaining Darwin Online, van Wyhe had an interest in the history of phrenology and has given talks on this in Britain, France, and Germany.
Darwin and religion
One of van Wyhe's areas of research covers the reception of evolutionary ideas, and in an article titled "Darwin vs God?" he put forward the case that Darwin was neither an atheist nor was there a significant uproar of science and religion when The Origin of Species was published, though heterogeneity of opinion existed.Selected publications
Books
- Darwin: The Man, his great voyage, and his Theory of Evolution.
- Darwin: The Man, his great voyage, and his Theory of Evolution.
- Darwin: The Man, his great voyage, and his Theory of Evolution..
- The Annotated Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace. Edited by John van Wyhe, NUS Press, 2015.
- Charles Darwin in Cambridge: The most joyful years. World Scientific Press, 2014.
- Dispelling the Darkness: Voyage in the Malay Archipelago and the discovery of evolution by Wallace and Darwin. World Scientific Press, 2013.
- Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters from the Malay Archipelago. Forward by Sir David Attenborough. Oxford University Press, 2013.
- Darwin..
- Charles Darwin's shorter publications 1829-1883. .
- Charles Darwin's notebooks from the voyage of the Beagle. .
- Darwin in Cambridge.
- Phrenology and the origins of Victorian scientific naturalism. Ashgate, 2004.
- Combe's Constitution of Man, and Nineteenth-Century Responses. 3 vols. By George Combe, edited by John van Wyhe, Thoemmes Press, 2004.
Shorter publications
- "How many people helped Alfred Russel Wallace", an edited excerpt published in The Conversation, in English and in Malay. Oct 25, 2018
- "Wallace's help: the many people who aided A.R. Wallace in the Malay Archipelago." Journal of the Malaysia Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society vol. 91, part 1, no. 314, pp 41–68.
- Charles Darwin and the dentists. Journal of the History of Dentistry. vol. 66, No. 1, pp. 25–35, 2018.
- Darwin's discovery. In: How evolution explains everything about me: From Darwin's brilliant idea to today's epic theory. New Scientist.
- "Darwin's body-snatchers" Endeavor 41, no. 1..
- "I am Ali Wallace", the Malay assistant of Alfred Russel Wallace: An excerpt, The Conversation, in English and in Malay, Oct 16, 2017
- A rough draft of A.R. Wallace's "Sarawak law" paper. Archives of Natural History 43.2: pp. 285–293..
- Darwin's discovery: The remarkable history of evolution. New Scientist pp. 35–39
- The Darwin-Wallace theory of evolution. Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology. Elsevier, vol. 1, pp. 394–8..
- Annotating Wallace's Malay Archipelago. Pulse : pp. 4–5..
- The illustrations in A.R. Wallace's Malay Archipelago and in a much-enhanced French translation in Le Tour du Monde. Archives of Natural History 42 : 358-362, figs 1-4., 2015.
- "I am Ali Wallace". The Malay assistant of Alfred Russel Wallace. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Society vol. 88, Part 1, No. 308 : pp 3–31..
- Wallace in Singapore. In T. Barnard ed. Nature contained: Environmental histories of Singapore NUS Press, pp 85–109..
- Alfred Russel Wallace. In Ruse ed. The Cambridge encyclopedia of Darwin and evolutionary thought. Cambridge University Press, pp. 165–172..
- "Wallace's mystery flycatcher." Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 61 : 1-5, figs. 1-3., 2013.
- Correcting the Darwin myths. In The Origin of Darwinism: Charles Darwin and The Origin of Species Guardian Books, 2012.
- "In Alfred Russel Wallace's Shadow: His forgotten assistant, Charles Allen." Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 85 part 2, no. 303: 17-54., 2012.
- The Annie Darwin hypothesis: Did the death of his daughter cause Darwin to "give up Christianity"? Centaurus 54:1-19, 2012.
- "Wallace, Darwin and Southeast Asia: the real field site of evolution." In Gower et al. eds Biotic evolution and environmental change in Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press, pp. 16–31..
- "Where do Darwin's finches come from?" The evolutionary review 3, 1: 185-195.
- A new theory to explain the receipt of Wallace's Ternate Essay by Darwin in 1858. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2012.
- Charles Darwin's life and work 200 years on. Entangling Darwin: cross-disciplinary reflections on the man and his legacy. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp 11–24..
- John Tweedie and Charles Darwin in Buenos Aires. Notes and records of the Royal Society, 2012.
- The Darwin-Wallace mystery solved: Darwin vindicated from accusations of deceit. 'Article in Science Daily sourced from 'National University of Singapore.
- "Was Charles Darwin an atheist?" The public domain review. 28 July 2011.
- Charles Darwin: A life of discovery. In M. Hutchins ed. Grzimek's animal life, evolution. Gale, pp. 31–44, 2011.
- 'Almighty God! what a wonderful discovery!': Did Charles Darwin really believe life came from space? Endeavor 34, no. 3 95-103.
- Johan Gaspar Spurzheim. Neue Deutsche Biographie 24:770-1
- Commemorating Charles Darwin. The evolutionary review 1, No. 1 : 42-47.
- Charles Darwin's Cambridge Life 1828-1831. Journal of Cambridge studies 4 : 2-13.
- Darwin Online and the evolution of the Darwin industry. History of Science 47 No. 158: 459-476..
- Darwin Online. Science progress'' 92, part 3/4, pp 485–6..
- Darwin vs God. BBC History Magazine 10, no. 1 : 26-31.
- A reception study in the making? The unprecedented reception of Darwin's private papers online. Viewpoint: Newsletter of the British Society for the History of Science No. 86 : 5.
- 'Misconceptions' . 2008, 02.09 The Guardian.
- 'Dinner with Darwin' New Humanist Magazine 2008.01, 123, No. 1, pp. 15–17.
- 'The diffusion of phrenology through public lecturing' in A. Fyfe and B. Lightman eds., Science in the marketplace: nineteenth-century sites and experiences. Chicago: University Press, 2007, pp. 60–96.
- 'Mind the gap: Did Darwin avoid publishing his theory for many years?' Notes and Records of the Royal Society 61 : 177-205.
- 'Charles Darwin 1809 - 2009' The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology.
- 'The launch and reception of Darwin Online' Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 61: 2007, 63-5.
- 'A new life online' Endeavour, Vol. 30 no. 2 p. 119.
- 'The history of science is dead. Long live the history of science!', Viewpoint: Newsletter of the British Society for the History of Science, No. 80, June 2006.
- 'The descent of words: Evolutionary thinking 1780-1880', Endeavour, 29, 2005, pp. 94–100.
- 'Was phrenology a reform science? Towards a new generalization for phrenology', History of Science, xlii, 2004, pp. 313–331.
- 'The authority of human nature: the Schädellehre of Franz Joseph Gall', British Journal for the History of Science, March, 2002, pp. 17–42.
Scholarly presentations
- 'The Malay Archipelago'. Book discussion, Wallacea Week 2018. Jakarta, National Library of Indonesia.
- 'The Malay Archipelago'. Public lecture: Science and Society. Wallacea Week 2018. Jakarta, National Library of Indonesia.
- 'The Historical Wallace. Conversations: Underlying Nature.' The ArtScience Museum, Singapore.
- In the footsteps of Wallace and the Natural History of Indonesia. Lazuardi Cordova Global Islamic School, Jakarta.
- Alfred Russel Wallace: The collector in Southeast Asia. Wallace, Wallacea & Indonesia, Wallacea Week 2017. Jakarta, National Library of Indonesia.
- 'Damning Darwin: The extraordinary evolution of the story of Darwin and Wallace 1858 to today'. British Society for the History of Science annual conference, University of York.
- Panel discussion with Frans de Waal - 'Being Human, Ethics, Religion, and our Ancestry.' Yale-NUS College, Singapore.
- 'Wanderlust: The amazing Ida Pfeiffer'. Organized by the Friends of the Museum, Asian Civilization Museum, Singapore.
- Moderator: 'Conversations with Humanists'. NUS Interfaith Society, National University of Singapore.
- Keynote lecture, Victorians like us conference,'The discovery of deep progress'. Lisbon, Portugal.
- Darwin, Wallace and the Sarawak Law. Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
- 'Charles Darwin's sexy barnacles'. Work-in-progress seminar, Tembusu College, National University of Singapore.
- 'Damning Darwin: The extraordinary evolution of the story of Darwin and Wallace 1858 to today'. Leeds Humanities Research Institute, University of Leeds.
- 'Historical Myths'. TEDxNUS
- "Will the real Alfred Russel Wallace please stand up?" Hay Festival, 2014
Professional activities
2012- Professorial Fellow of Charles Darwin University, Australia.
- Launch of Wallace Online.
- Fellow of Tembusu College, National University of Singapore.
- Organizer of the Work-in-progress seminar, Tembusu College.
- Joint Appointment to the University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore.
- Scientific Associate, The Natural History Museum.
- Senior Lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences and Department of History, National University of Singapore.
- Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.
- Editorial Board of The evolutionary review.
- Associate of the Science, Technology & Society Cluster, FASS, National University of Singapore.
- Associate of the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
2005-2010
- Bye-Fellow, Christ's College, Cambridge.
- Editorial Board of Centaurus.
- Member of Regents House, University of Cambridge.
- Director of the Wheeler Library of the British Society for the History of Science.
- Editor of the British Society for the History of Science Monograph series.
- Member of Council and Trustee of the British Society for the History of Science.
- Visiting Associate Professor, History of Ideas Department, University of Aarhus, Denmark.
- Life member of the Biological Society, University of Cambridge.
- Research Fellow, Correspondence of Alfred Russel Wallace Project, Open University.
- Founder and Director of The Complete Work of Charles Darwin online
- Senior Research Fellow, University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore.
- Editor of the Science section of the Victorian Web.
- Affiliated Research Scholar, Department of History & Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge.
- Senior Research Fellow, National University of Singapore.
- Member of The Cambridge Historical Society.
- Organizer of the Pan-historical Methods seminar, Cambridge University.