Nature Releases Second Archive
By Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 2/1/2008
Noted science weekly magazine Nature is now offering a second archive, this one containing the full contents from its first 80 years (1869–1949). According to the publication, the archive, which boasts more than 4000 issues and an estimated 180,000 articles, reveals “a wealth of treasures,” including the first observation of X-rays (Wilhelm Röntgen, 1896), the discovery of the electron (J.J. Thomson, 1897), the first fossil evidence that humans originated in Africa (Raymond Dart, 1925), and the discovery of the neutron (James Chadwick, 1932).
The project has taken more than five years to complete and follows the initial 1987–96 archive released in 2003. A special web feature, The History of the Journal Nature (www.nature.com/nature/history), featuring time lines, video interviews, and profiles of editors, has been developed to celebrate the launch.
Nature said the early archive often “reads like science fiction, with its foretelling of science and technology we take for granted today,” e.g., forensic use of fingerprints in crime solving was suggested as early as 1880. Access is by site license for institutions; articles also can be purchased individually.
