Comments on: The Darwin Correspondence Project

The Darwin Correspondence Project

carter — Wed, 16 May 2007 08:39:17 -0800

Darwin wrote to 2000 people during his life; 14,500 of these letters still survive. The Darwin Correspondence Project is putting annotated transcriptions of these online, and they've covered about 5,000 so far, including a letter written when he was 12 after he had got into trouble with his sister for not washing regularly while at school. There's an intro here. See also Darwin Online, discussed here. And the prolific network theorist Albert-Laszlo Barabasi has co-authored a paper on statistical similarities between Darwin's and Einstein's correspondence (#51 on the list).

By: ORthey

ORthey — Wed, 16 May 2007 08:49:28 -0800

Wow... this is AWESOME. Thanks!

By: ORthey

ORthey — Wed, 16 May 2007 08:50:53 -0800

Might I add: "why I only wash my fett once a month at school, which I confess is nasty" Brilliant.

By: Aloysius Bear

Aloysius Bear — Wed, 16 May 2007 08:50:54 -0800

I love this one: "The scheme is a most magnificent one. We spend about 2 years in S America, the rest of time larking round the world" The Glutton Club, which is referred to in the above letter, was a Cambridge dining club devoted to seeking out "strange flesh" — they met weekly to dine on the most obscure animals they could find. Darwin was the club's President.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Wed, 16 May 2007 08:58:57 -0800

I'd like to point out that unlike my RL analogue, my hygiene is impeccable. Cheers for this, carter.

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Wed, 16 May 2007 09:31:22 -0800

This is a terrific post! Stuff like this reminds me of why I love the internet so much. I am constantly bewildered by the sheer amount of information available to us twenty-four hours a day.

By: GlowWyrm

GlowWyrm — Wed, 16 May 2007 10:06:23 -0800

Very cool. Thanks!

By: fenriq

fenriq — Wed, 16 May 2007 10:23:51 -0800

This is excellent and a really interesting project. One of those ideas I'd wish I'd come up with.

By: Postroad

Postroad — Wed, 16 May 2007 12:27:22 -0800

I am not sure why the sttistical stuff on Darwin/Einstein. Darwin wrote often to people he did not know in order to get materials for his work at his home, which he mostly stayed at after his Beagle voyage; Einstein, by contrast, wrote mostly about getting jobs, his views on politics, Zionism, awards, jobs etc and not nearly as much on the work he is noted for.

By: Rawhide

Rawhide — Wed, 16 May 2007 13:00:03 -0800

Pffft! Like Darwin is actually real.

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Wed, 16 May 2007 15:08:06 -0800

This is wonderful. Thanks!

By: woodblock100

woodblock100 — Thu, 17 May 2007 07:05:03 -0800

Absolutely fantastic site! Curious though, they say thanks to the family for "giving permission for publication". Surely these materials are in the public domain?