I'm not certain that Wallace was sidelined; he was more of a
field biologist that Darwin - apart from Darwin's voyage on the
Beagle. Darwin's publications before his work on natural selection
had made Darwin very well known and celebrated. Wallace, was
pleased to be associated with Darwin and without Darwin, the theory
of Natural Selection would not have been taken so seriously.
Darwin's publication of Origin of the Species sealed his fame; it
became a best seller and Darwin became strongly associated with the
theory. Wallace agreed that Darwin deserved the credit as Darwin
had done most of the research behind the theory. Wallace and Darwin
corrosponded throughout their lives and Darwin considered Wallace
one of the great thinkers on evolution.
