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Digital Library
See also the subject specific resources listed on the History of Science Gateway page.

4000 Years of Women in Science - (dead link)
A biographical directory of over 125 scientists.

Air & Space Magazine
- Smithsonian - National Air and Space Museum

  • [Feature] Articles Online - (dead link)

The Alchemical Virtual Library
"Divided into 1200 sections and providing thousands of pages of text, over 1500 images, 180 complete alchemical texts, extensive bibliographical material on the printed books and manuscripts, numerous articles, introductory and general reference material on alchemy."

Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers at the Library of Congress 1742-1939
"..."consisting of correspondence scientific notebooks, journals, blueprints, articles, and photographs documenting Bell's invention of the telephone and his involvement in the first telephone company, his family life, his interest in the education of the deaf, and his aeronautical and other scientific research."
- American Memory, Library of Congress

American Institute of Physics

Digital Bridges
Bridges Of The Nineteenth Century
"The Digital Bridges Web site consists of a collection thirty representative 19th century American bridge engineering monographs, manuals, and documents from the Lehigh University Libraries' Special Collections. Many of these items are relatively rare an in some cases quite fragile."
- Lehigh University Libraries

Classic Chemistry
"The principal purpose of this site is to post the texts of several classic papers from the history of chemistry. This site also contains pointers to a few other chemistry-related sites and supports my courses."
Compiled by Carmen Giunta, Dept. of Chemistry, Le Moyne College

Classic Papers from the History of Chemistry (and Some Physics too)
By John Parks

Cornell University Library - Historical Mathematics Monographs
"...is a collection of [576] selected monographs with expired copyrights chosen from the mathematics field. These were monographs that were brittle and decaying and in need of rescue."

[Darwin] The Writings of Charles Darwin on the Web
"The most complete collection of Darwin's work ever published- with original page numbers, illustrations etc."
Sections include: Darwin's Writings Darwin Overview ; Bibliography ; Images.
Edited by Dr John van Wyhe

The Discovery of Global Warming (etext)
"A hypertext history of how scientists came to (partly) understand what people are doing to change the Earth's climate."
By Spencer Weart, Director of the Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics. 

Dismuke's Virtual Talking Machine
Vintage Phonograph Recordings, 1900-1939
"This site is devoted to vintage music from the early decades of the 20th Century. All recordings have been transcribed into streaming Real Audio from the original 78 rpm discs in my personal collection.  It is my hope that this site will help further the creation of a new generation of enthusiasts for an exciting, vibrant and, sadly, all but forgotten era of American popular culture."

Early Recorded Sounds and Wax Cylinders
"Explore early sound recording methods, two-minute wax cylinder records and antique phonographs; see plenty of rare vintage photos; and enjoy listening to early recorded sounds taken directly from the original wax cylinders."
By Glenn Sage

Einstein - see our separate Albert Einstein page.

Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry
"...is a selection of more than 400 items from the Emile Berliner Papers and 108 Berliner sound recordings from the Library of Congress's Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Berliner (1851-1929), an immigrant and a largely self-educated man, was responsible for the development of the microphone and the flat recording disc and gramophone player."
American Memory, Library of Congress

Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography
Includes: "1,055 entries, 2,070 cross-references, 209 figures..."

The Galileo Project
"...is a hypertext source of information on the life and work of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and the science of his time."
An extensive and important collection of resources
Rice University

History of Computer Security
Computer Security Paper Archive Project
"This list of papers was initially distributed on CD-ROM at NISSC '98. These papers are unpublished, seminal works in computer security. They are papers every serious student of computer security should read. They are not easy to find. The goal of this collection is to make them widely available. This list was compiled by the Computer Security Laboratory of the Computer Science Department at the University of California, Davis."
- Computer Security Resource Center, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Internet History of Science Sourcebook
"...is a world wide web project designed to provide easy access to primary sources and other teaching materials in a non-commercial environment.  It was developed and is edited by Paul Halsall [History Dept., Fordham University] with the aid of numerous other contributors."

International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine

Islam Set - History of Islamic Science
Edited and Prepared by Prof. Hamed A. Ead

The Journal of Syms Covington
"An annotated transcription of the journal of Darwin's assistant on the voyage of the HMS Beagle, 1831-1836."
Postmaster of Pambula, New South Wales
Edited and Annotated by Vern Weitzel, Australian National University.
Published by the Australian Science Archives Project.

Journal of the Association for History and Computing - (dead link) (electronic journal)

Library of Congress Exhibitions

  • Ancient Manuscripts from the Desert of Timbuktu
    "Timbuktu, Mali, is the legendary city founded as a commercial center in West Africa nine hundred years ago. Dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries, the ancient manuscripts presented in this exhibition cover every aspect of human endeavor and are indicative of the high level of civilization attained by West Africans during the Middle Ages and provide irrefutable proof of a powerful African literary tradition. Scholars in the fields of Islamic Studies and African Studies believe that analysis of these texts will cause Islamic, West African, and World History to be reevaluated."
    Includes examples of Islamic science.

Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology - History of Science Collection

  • The Year 1000 : A Legacy of Science & Technology
    Sections include: Horse ; Medicine ; Astronomy ; Algebra ; Alchemy ; Firecrackers ; Horticulture ; Water Power ; Ceramics ; Cotton.
    - Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering, and Technology
  • Centuries of Civil Engineering
    A Rare Book Exhibition Celebrating the Heritage of Civil Engineering
    Sections include: Canals ; Water Supply ; Monuments ; Bridges ; Lighthouses ; Viaducts.

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (German or English)

  • Development of Mechanical Knowledge in China
    A joint research project conducted by the Partner Group and the Chinese Academy of Sciences - Institute for the History of Natural Sciences.
    • Yuanxi Qiqi Tushuo Luzui
      Collected Diagrams and Explanations of Wonderful Machines from the Far West
      Wang Zheng, Johann Terrenz Schreck, 1627
  • The Virtual Laboratory
    Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life, 1830-1930
    "...a platform where historians publish and discuss their research on experimentation in the life sciences, art, and technology...The Virtual Library collects and presents texts and images concerning various aspects of the experimentalization of life, such as instruments, experiments, sites and people."

[Medicine] National Library of Medicine - History of Medicine

  • Medicine in the Americas, 1619-1914: A Digital Library
    "...is a digital library project providing scanned historical American medical books in pdf and as searchable text files. The project is aimed at the general public, with special emphasis on historians, students, clinicians, and librarians... The projectís goal is to provide original source materials on the development of medicine in the New World, including Latin America, Canada, and the Caribbean. The History of Medicine Division hopes that including non-U.S. imprints will foster research on a wider variety of topics in the study of American medicine."

National Academy Press  (free downloads)

PC Magazine - 20 Year Anniversary (March 2002)

PBS NOVA - Forgotten Genius
Companion website to the February 2007 TV broadcast. Watch episode online. Includes Teacher's Guide and Library Resource Kit.
"Against all odds, African-American chemist Percy Julian became one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century...is a fascinating and largely unknown story of scientific triumph and racial inequality. It covers the extraordinary life journey of Percy Julian, one of the great chemists of the 20th century."

Profiles in Science
 "This site makes the archival collections of prominent twentieth-century biomedical scientists available to the public through modern digital technology. The collections have been donated to the National Library of Medicine and contain published and unpublished materials, including books, journal volumes, pamphlets, diaries, letters, manuscripts, photographs, audio tapes, and other audiovisual materials."
National Library of Medicine

  • Julius Axelrod
    Julius Axelrod (b. 1912) is a pharmacologist and neuroscientist who shared the 1970 Nobel Prize for the discoveries "concerning the humoral transmittors in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation."
  • Martin Rodbell
    "Martin Rodbell (1925-1998) was an American biochemist and molecular endocrinologist who shared the Nobel Prize in 1994 for his discovery of G-proteins and the principles of signal transduction in cellular communication."
  • Joshua Lederberg
    "Joshua Lederberg (b. 1925) is an American geneticist and microbiologist who received the Nobel Prize in 1958 for his discoveries concerning genetic recombination and the organization of the genetic material of bacteria."
  • Oswald T. Avery
    "Oswald T. Avery (1877-1955) was one of this country's first molecular biologists, whose findings proved that the genetic material is DNA."

Relativity: The Special and General Theory
By Albert Einstein, 1920

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

  • Exhibitions
    • The Romance of Orchid Discovery: John Day Scrapbooks
      "A man with a passion, John Day painted hundreds of exquisite watercolours of the newly discovered orchids that were entrancing Victorian society. These flowers, ranging from the elegant to the curious, were given added appeal by tales of exotic lands, eventful plant hunting missions and resourceful collectors."

The Royal Society (UK)
"As the UK national academy of science founded in 1660, the Royal Society plays a crucial role as the champion of top quality science and technology."

Russian Archives Online
"...is an online collection of Russian and Soviet-related archives and other sources of film footage, photographs, illustrations, and audio, along with supporting documents and text."

Samuel F. B. Morse Papers at the Library of Congress, 1793-1919
"...comprises about 6,500 items, or approximately 50,000 images, that document Morse's invention of the electromagnetic telegraph, his participation in the development of telegraph systems in the United States and abroad, his career as a painter, his family life, his travels, and his interest in early photography, religion, and the nativist movement. Included in the collection are correspondence, letterbooks, diaries, scrapbooks, printed matter, maps, drawings, and other miscellaneous materials. The papers included date from 1793 to 1919, but most are from 1807 to 1872. The collection includes the original paper tape containing the first telegraph message, "What hath God wrought?," sent on May 24, 1844.
American Memory, Library of Congress

Science Magazine

Sir Joseph Banks' Papers
""Digital reproductions and transcripts of those papers of Sir Joseph Banks which are held in the Mitchell and Dixson collections at the State Library of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia. These amount to approximately 10,000 manuscript pages and include correspondence, principally letters received, but also reports, invoices and accounts, journals, plus a small quantity of maps, charts and watercolours."

Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Sections include: Mosaic of Science ; Industry & Technology ; Art & Design ; American Discovery.

  • Astronomiæ instauratæ mechanica by Tycho Brahe (1602)
    Tycho Brahe. AstronomiÊ instauratÊ mechanica [Instruments for the restoration of astronomy]. Noribergae [N¸rnberg]: apud L. Hvlsivm [by Levinus Hulsius], 1602. 107 unnumbered pages, woodcut and engraved illustrations, map, plans.
    "Tycho Brahe1 (1546-1601) was a Danish astronomer who built the best observatory in Europe and set a new standard for accurate celestial observations in the era before the invention of the telescope."
  • Wonder Bound - Rare Books on Early Museums
    Sections include: Introduction ; Crocodiles on the Ceiling ; Collecting Wonders ; One Part Arsenic ; Suggested Reading ; Complete Exhibition Gallery.

Thomas A. Edison Papers
"For the present this site will make available a searchable document database linked to document images for Parts IñIII (1847ñ1898) and some of the editorial materials from the image and text publications, with continual additions. In its final form the full digital edition will include the text of the print volumes."
Sponsored by Rutgers University, the Smithsonian Institution and others.

U.S. Dept. of Energy - Research & Development Accomplishments
"The Web site is comprised of the R&D Accomplishments Database, Featured Topics pages, and Snapshots. It showcases the proud heritage of the Department's research and development."

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
 "The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is America's national institution for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history, and serves as this country's memorial to the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust."
The site Includes a number of online exhibits and is suitable for both school children and advanced scholars.

University of Connecticut Libraries - Archives and Special Collections

  • Railroad History Archive
    • Steam & Electric Locomotives of the New Haven Railroad Digital Collection
      "The 460 photographs that comprise this digital collection are from the Fred Otto Makowsky Collection... The photographs are an excellent snapshot of the trains of the early 1900s, showing the New Haven Railroadís mid and late generation steam engines and its first electric locomotives and multiple unit cars. The photographs were taken in the time that the New Haven RR was a pioneer in main line electrification..."

University of Melbourne - Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre

  • Technology in Australia 1788-1988 (etext)
    "The online edition of this bicentenary study by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering of the men, women and organisations involved in the development of technology in Australia."

University of Minnesota - Charles Babbage Institute - Center for the History of Information Technology
"...is dedicated to promoting study of the history of information technology and information processing and their impact on society."

  • Oral Histories - (dead link)
    Transcripts available online
  • Cray Research Virtual Museum - (dead link)

University of Toronto Libraries - Digital Collections

  • Anatomia Collection
    "This collection features approximately 4500 full page plates and other significant illustrations of human anatomy selected from the Jason A. Hannah and Academy of Medicine collections in the history of medicine at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto. Each illustration has been fully indexed using medical subject headings (MeSH), and techniques of illustration, artists, and engravers have been identified whenever possible. There are ninety-five individual titles represented, ranging in date from 1522 to 1867."

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

  • Light!Licht! (Dutch or English)
    The Industrial Age, 1750 - 1900 | Art & Science, Technology & Society

The Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers at the Library of Congress
"...comprising about 10,121 library items or approximately 49,084 digital images, documents the lives of Wilbur and Orville Wright and highlights their pioneering work which led to the world's first powered, controlled and sustained flight. Included in the collection are correspondence, diaries and notebooks, scrapbooks, drawings, printed matter, and other documents, as well as the Wrights' collection of glass-plate photographic negatives."
- American Memory, Library of Congress

Created by librarian Mike Madin