Patent Law

Did Darwin plagiarize?

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

One group of critics has commissioned computer experts with specialised anti-plagiarism software to scour Darwin's book, published in 1859, for similarities to a paper released the year before by Alfred Russel Wallace, a naturalist who worked for eight years in what he termed the Malay Archipelago - primarily Indonesia and Malaysia.

Initial indications are that the analysis will show some of the most important ideas in On the Origin of Species were taken from Wallace -- in particular the idea that species with variations helping them to survive would thrive and pass on these features to their offspring.

Full post as published by IPBiz on December 28, 2008 (boomark / email).