This year we have been celebrating Charles Darwin and his Origin of Species. Sadly, little has been heard of Alfred Wallace, who, according to a recent book by Roy Davies (The Darwin Conspiracy), has a stronger claim to the theory of evolution by natural selection than has Darwin. In 1855, Wallace's first paper on evolution prompted Charles Lyell to warn Darwin that Wallace seemed close to solving the "species problem" and to urge him to publish his own theory.
Three years later, while studying the fauna of the Malayan archipelago, Wallace completed his theory and sent it to Darwin from the island of Ternate on 9 March 1858. Sent to England on the same boat was a letter to Frederick Bates, who received it on 3 June. It seems that Darwin wrote to Joseph Hooker on 8 June, saying he had found the "missing keystone" that enabled the completion of his evolution theory, while on 18 June, he wrote that he had just received a letter from Wallace proposing a theory of evolution identical to his own – a very suspicious chronology! Although it initially became known as the Darwin-Wallace theory, Darwin took the glory and Wallace was largely forgotten. Lacking Darwin's establishment connections, Wallace was shabbily treated and should be recognised as at least an equal in the Wallace-Darwin theory of evolution.
Dr Alfred Venables, Professor Julian Wimpenny, Professor David Lloyd
• Alastair Noble (Response, 1 December) proposes the invention of an original entity possessing "intelligence", but the mystery is merely moved one stage further away. Logic requires there must be a super-intelligent designer who crafted our designer, and so on. This argument is clearly futile. Let us all accept that the theory of evolution is the best we can hope for now, and expect it to be refined as human knowledge expands.