Celebrate Darwin's Birthday

Celebrate Charles Darwin's birthday by exploring the beautiful digital collections of his scholarly work, written in his own hand.

Although Darwin was born more than 200 years ago on February 12th, 1809, his research on evolution by means of natural selection can still be traced through the more 16,000 pages scanned by the Darwin Manuscripts Project. The Darwin Manuscripts Project is publicly accessible as an online exhibit through the American Museum of Natural History. Browse the notebooks Darwin compiled during his journey upon The Beagle, and examine the high resolution digital images of his scientific research.

Browse the Biodiversity Heritage Library's online compendium of texts, the Charles Darwin's Library, which include scans of books from his personal library. Examine Darwin's hand-written notes in the margins of his personal collection, for a glimpse into Darwin's mind. A selection of the books are currently free for download on iTunes U, and scans can also be viewed via Flickr feed.

Skip the 200 year old birthday cake, roll up your sleeves, and celebrate Darwin's life by sifting through the manuscripts of a formidable scientific mind.