"This release makes his private papers, mountains of notes, experiments, and research behind his world-changing publications available to the world for free," said John van Wyhe, director of the project.

"His publications have always been available in the public sphere - but these papers have until now only been accessible to scholars."

The collection includes thousands of notes and drafts of his scientific writings, notes from the voyage of the Beagle when he began to formulate his controversial theory of evolution, and his first recorded doubts about the permanence of species.

It also contains photographs of Darwin and his family, newspaper clippings, reviews of his books and much more.

Giving a more personal insight, there is also his wife Emma's cookbook including recipes for delicacies such as 'Ilkley pudding' and a rudimentary recipe for boiling rice, written by Darwin himself.

Other papers include caricatures and notes with his boyhood musings on birds.

Publication in 1859 of Origin of Species after years of prevarication established Darwin -- already known to the public after publication of The Voyage of the Beagle -- as a leading scientific thinker.

But it also sparked a major public debate and a bitter denunciation by the Church of England, which regarded the book as heretical.

"Darwin changed our understanding of nature forever. His papers reveal how immensely detailed his researches were," said van Wyhe.

"The release of his papers online marks a revolution in the public's access to - and hopefully appreciation of - one of the most important collections of primary materials in the history of science."

(Reporting by Jeremy Lovell; editing by Paul Casciato)

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REUTERS

World's First Public Botanic Art Gallery Opens

[HSKKSPD]

By

Jeremy Lovell

LONDON - The world's first public art gallery dedicated to botanic paintings and engravings opens on Saturday in the heart of London's world famous Kew Gardens.

Combining some of Kew's own massive collection of botanic art and parts of the private collection of botanist Shirley Sherwood, the purpose-built gallery offers a unique glimpse into the world of plants.

"This places botanical art on the world map and at a time when plants have never been so important to us because of global warming," Kew director Stephen Hopper said at a preview of the opening show at the gallery this week.

"The beauty, rarity and accuracy of the images displayed ... will raise public awareness of the beauty and fragility of the natural world," he said.

From a 15th century engraving of a mandrake plant to modern paintings of a beetroot and coconut the exhibition is not simply an artistic rendering of the world of plants but a scientific investigation into their innermost workings.