Darwin's original theory of evolution goes online

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — The original version of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was published online Thursday among a "treasure trove" of the scientist's papers, photographs and other documents.

Some 20,000 items contained in around 90,000 images were published on the Internet, according to a spokesman for Cambridge University, the scholar's old academic home.

Chief among them was the first draft of Darwin's "The Origin of Species", produced in the 1840s, which eventually led to the publication of his most well-known work in 1859.

"This release makes his private papers, mountains of notes, experiments and research behind his world-changing publications available to the world for free," said John van Wyhe, the director of The Complete Work of Charles Darwin...