National Science Foundation

Newton's fundamental contributions to science include the quantification of gravitational attraction, the discovery that white light is actually a mixture of immutable spectral colors, and the formulation of the calculus. Yet for Newton was also engaged in the discipline of alchemy, or as it was often called in seventeenth-century England, "chymistry." Newton wrote and transcribed about a million words on the subject of alchemy.

The Embryo Project helps identify and understand the agents of change shaping embryo research and its multiple contexts. We started from the historical recognition that science involves a mix of contingencies influenced by (1) particular actors working in particular places, (2) decisions about what organisms to study, equipment to use, experiments to design, and other technical factors that make possible scientific practices, and (3) the multiple social and cultural contextual factors that shape what is possible in science.

The Darwin Correspondence Project is a digital endeavor that seeks to transcribe the letters written by Charles Darwin during the course of his lifetime. Over 15,000 correspondences to or from Darwin are included on the website with a brief description. Approximately half of those letters are completely annotated and publicly accessible.