Charles Darwin’s complete works to be published online
The complete works of one of history’s
greatest scientists, Charles Darwin, are being published online. The project
run by Cambridge University has digitised some 50,000 pages of text and 40,000
images of original publications - all of it searchable. Surfers with MP3 players
can even access downloadable audio files.
The complete works of one of history’s greatest scientists, Charles Darwin, are being published online.
The project run by Cambridge University has digitised some 50,000 pages of text and 40,000 images of original publications - all of it searchable. Surfers with MP3 players can even access downloadable audio files.
The resource is aimed at serious scholars, but can be used by anyone with an interest in Darwin and his theory on the evolution of life.
“The idea is to make these important works as accessible as possible; some people can only get at Darwin that way,” said Dr John van Wyhe, the project’s director.
Darwin Online features many newly transcribed or never-before-published manuscripts written by the great man.
These include a remarkable field notebook from his famous Beagle voyage to the Galapagos Islands, where detailed observations of the wildlife would later forge his scientific arguments.
The real artefact was stolen in the 1980s and is still missing, but the text has been transcribed from a microfilm copy made two decades earlier.
“It is astonishing to see the notebook that Darwin had in his pocket as he walked around the Galapagos - the scribbled notes that he took as he clambered over the lava,” said Randal Keynes, the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin.
“If people can read it on the web and they learn that it was stolen then I think there is more chance that this very important piece of national heritage is recovered,” he told BBC News.
“The family has always wanted Darwin’s papers and manuscripts available to anyone who wants to read them. That everyone around the world can now see them on the web is simply fantastic,” said Mr Keynes.”
The site is about half-done. It will be another couple of years before all available works will be online. Wonderful to see a project like this succeed — providing the opportunity for people to read original materials, notes and analysis.
Posted: Thu - October 19, 2006 at 06:16 AM