Peruse Darwin’s manuscripts online

Time was you had to be a scholar and visit Cambridge University to study Charles Darwin’s manuscripts.

Now you can just click your way to them, for free: http://darwin-online.org.uk.

In addition to the naturalist’s notes and books, such as the PDF version of his On the Origin of Species, first edition, you’ll even find his wife’s recipes — perfect for when you need feed your strict creationist friends some humble pie!

The day the site went live it got more than 7 million hits and crashed.

2009 will be the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species and will mark 200 years since Darwin’s birth.