Darwin in cyberspace

Source: University of Cambridge

The first draft of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is among thousands of his private papers made accessible online for the very first time.

For decades these were only available to scholars at Cambridge University Library, but they can now be seen free of charge by anyone around the globe at Darwin Online.

The publication of Darwin's private papers is the largest in history, totalling about 20,000 items in nearly 90,000 images.

As well as the first draft of his theory of evolution, the vast collection of Darwin-related items includes thousands of notes and drafts of his scientific writings, notes from the voyage of the Beagle - with his musings on Galapagos birds - and his first recorded doubts about the permanence of species.

It also contains photographs of Darwin and his family, newspaper clippings, reviews of his books and much more.

On a less scientific note, there is material revealing Victorian family life such as Emma Darwin's recipe book. Contained within are delicacies such as 'Ilkley pudding'; and a rudimentary recipe for boiling rice, scrawled in Darwin's own handwriting.

"Charles Darwin is one of the most influential scientists in history." Dr John van Wyhe, director of The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online at Cambridge University, said.

"The collection of his papers now online is extremely important and therefore very exciting.

"This release makes his private papers, mountains of notes, experiments, and research behind his world-changing publications available to the world for free."

The immensity of the collection means even if you viewed one image per minute, it would still take more than two months to see all of the material made available today.

Covering Darwin's life from childhood, the papers also feature his boyhood notes on birds, proofs of his Origin of Species, as well as caricatures and obituaries and much more.

"Darwin changed our understanding of nature forever," van Whye said. "His papers reveal how immensely detailed his researches were. The release of his papers online marks a revolution in the public's access to - and hopefully appreciation of - one of the most important collections of primary materials in the history of science."

A searchable electronic catalogue has entries for all of the papers and browseable whole volumes of the papers are available on a separate page.