Final answer:
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace provided the foundation for the modern interpretation of evolution with their independent development of the theory of natural selection in the mid-19th century.
Step-by-step explanation:
Foundations of Modern Evolutionary Theory
During the middle of the 19th century, two individuals, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, laid the foundation for the modern interpretation of evolution. Both contributed significantly to the theory of natural selection, which is a key mechanism in the process of evolution.
Darwin and Wallace independently arrived at similar conclusions about natural selection through their separate travels and observations of biodiversity in different parts of the world. Darwin's landmark work, On the Origin of Species, published in 1859, detailed his arguments for evolution by natural selection and was based on his extensive travels aboard the H.M.S. Beagle. Wallace, on the other hand, developed his ideas through his explorations in the Amazon rainforest and the Malay Archipelago. Their combined works were first presented together before the Linnean Society in 1858 and became the bedrock upon which the modern understanding of evolution was built.
Despite their groundbreaking work, both Darwin and Wallace were unaware of the mechanisms of genetics, articulated by Gregor Mendel in 1866. It was only decades later when Mendel's findings were rediscovered that scientists could fully integrate genetics with evolution to form what is now called the modern synthesis - the comprehensive understanding of how natural selection and genetics interact to drive evolutionary change.