History of Science and Technology Gateways and Resources
The History of Science and Technology Gateways and Resources collection is comprised of web portals, web sites, and individual digital resources identified by National Science Digital Library staff as appropriate for inclusion in the Library. Many of the materials to be found here were suggested by NSDL users. The collection includes portals, sites, and resources devoted to many eras of the history of science and the history of technology. Here may be found materials for educators and learners (early childhood through graduate school), resources intended for the general public, and materials aimed at research and scholarly communities studying the history of science and/or the history of technology.
Details about NSDL selection criteria are provided in the NSDL Collection Development Policy. To recommend an addition or additions to the this collection, please complete NSDL's Recommend a Resource form.
The collection provides access to third-party resources; individual items must be consulted for terms of use.
American Museum of Natural History Digital Research Library
http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/
This digital library provides access to publications of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). These publications--American Museum Novitates (short papers in zoology, paleontology, and geology published 1921-present), Anth... Full description
Antiquities of Wisconsin (1855)
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Antiquities
An electronic edition of the noted work Antiquities of Wisconsin, by the nineteenth-century naturalist and engineer Increase A. Lapham. The book is a survey of Indian effigy mounds found in locations throughout Wisconsin, includin... Full description
APS Museum "Dialogues with Darwin" Online Exhibition
http://www.pachs.net/dialogues-with-darwin/galleries/
The American Philosophical Society (APS) Museum's "Dialogues with Darwin" exhibition tells the story of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and considers the debates about evolution that came both before and after him. The onli... Full description
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Archives: Science and Technology
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDT-1-75/science_technology/
This collection of radio and television clips from the archives of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) lets users explore the scientific and medical inventions, discoveries, and developments that have shaped Canada's histo... Full description
Classic Chemistry
http://web.lemoyne.edu/~GIUNTA/classicalcs/topics.html
Classic Chemistry is a web site offering a wealth of primary sources in the history of chemistry. It includes a large collection of classic chemistry papers; quantitative exercises (with teaching notes and solutions) tied to and b... Full description
ClassicArticles/GlobalWarming
http://wiki.nsdl.org/index.php/PALE:ClassicArticles/GlobalWarming
Classic Articles in Context edition on Global Warming. The Classic Articles in Context (CAC) project of the National Science Digital Library seeks to integrate landmark works of scientific inquiry into dynamic learning spaces for ... Full description
Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online
http://darwin-online.org.uk/
This archive features all the known work of Charles Darwin, including his publications, private papers, supplementary works, and specimen descriptions. It contains first editions of "Voyage of the Beagle," "Zoology", and "Descent ... Full description
Cosmic Journey: A History of Scientific Cosmology
http://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/
This site provides an introduction to the history of scientific cosmology: the study of the universe, its contents, structure, and evolution from the beginning of time to the future. The topics are arranged into two categories, "I... Full description
Dalton's Atomic Theory
http://dl.clackamas.edu/ch104-04/dalton's.htm
Brief account of the atomic theory developed by nineteenth-century chemist John Dalton. Full description
Darwin Collections at the American Philosophical Society
http://www.amphilsoc.org/
In commemoration of the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, the American Philosophical Society presents this overview of Charles Darwin’s work, his associati... Full description
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
http://www.davidrumsey.com/
The David Rumsey Collection features historical atlases, globes, school geographies, maritime charts, and individual maps of several types. Its primary focus is on 18th and 19th century maps of the Americas, but it also includes m... Full description
Digital Bridges: Bridges of the Nineteenth Century
http://bridges.lib.lehigh.edu
The collection consists of thirty representative 19th-century American bridge engineering monographs, manuals, and documents from the Lehigh University Libraries' Special Collections. The source documents have been scanned, conver... Full description
Discovery of Global Warming
http://aip.org/history/climate/
This web site provides an overview of the history of scientific research and public policy on climate change, from the nineteenth century to the present. The site is an expanded version of the book "The Discovery of Global Warming... Full description
Distillations: Extracts from the Past, Present and Future of Chemistry
http://distillations.chemheritage.org/
This weekly science podcast focuses on the past, present, and future of chemistry. Program content includes interviews, monologues, reviews, features, and other items intended to provide historical perspective on current scientifi... Full description
Ethyl Poisoned Earth
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=932
Biographical essay on Thomas Midgley Jr., inventor of leaded gasoline and CFC refrigerants. Full description
Google Video: National Archives Videos
http://video.google.com/nara.html
This web site features selections from three National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) film-video collections: NASA History, United Newsreel, and Department of the Interior. The NASA films (1962-1981) include the "Headqu... Full description
Historical Scientific Instrument Gallery
http://physics.unl.edu/history/histinstr/
This virtual gallery features a collection of scientific instruments used in the early days of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The gallery's inroduction briefly describes the history ... Full description
Horace-Bénédict de Saussure
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Horace_Benedict_De_Saussure
Brief biography of Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, a Swiss physicist, geologist, and early Alpine explorer who also developed probably the first electrometer, a device for measuring electric potential by means of attraction or repu... Full description
Internet Resources for History of Science and Technology
http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/hsci/internet.htm
This web site, developed by the University of Delaware Library, is a guide to online resources in the history of science and technology. The links it provides are organized by topic and type: starting points (general information),... Full description
Kurt Stüber's Online Library: A Collection of Historic and Modern Biology Books
http://www.biolib.de/
This collection of European biology books (German, Dutch, French, English, and other languages) includes titles published as early as 1543 and as recent as 2006. Many are out of print or difficult to obtain from public libraries o... Full description
Linus Pauling Research Notebooks
http://osulibrary.orst.edu/specialcollections/rnb/index.html
This site features the research notebooks of Dr. Linus Pauling, who used handwritten, bound notebooks to keep track of the details of his research as it unfolded. The collection includes scanned copies of 47 notebooks spanning the... Full description
Linus Pauling: A Centenary Exhibit
http://pauling.library.oregonstate.edu/exhibit/index.htm
This online exhibit recognizes the life and work of Dr. Linus Pauling. Materials include information on his childhood in Oregon and his college career at Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) and the California... Full description
Manufacturer and Builder (1869-1894)
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/browse.journals/manu.html
This is a collection of issues of the monthly journal Manufacturer and Builder from 1869 to 1894, scanned from originals held by the libraries of Cornell University and the University of Michigan. This journal, published from 1869... Full description
Map History / History of Cartography
http://www.maphistory.info/
This site provides links to information on the history of cartography and to web sites for old and collectible maps. Materials include annotated links to image sites; map collecting information and map interest societies; and arti... Full description
Milestones:Early Developments in Remote-Control, 1901
http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:Early_Developments_in_Remote-Control,_190...
This site provides a brief history of the development of remote control devices by Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres-Quevedo. He was the first person to lay down the modern remote control operation principles, which he expressed in... Full description
Mobilizing Minds: Teaching Math and Science in the Age of Sputnik
http://americanhistory.si.edu/mobilizing
This online exhibition from the National Museum of American History traces the expansion of interest in and teaching of science and mathematics in the United States in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's technical triumph in placi... Full description
Museum of Science, Boston: Virtual Exhibits
http://www.mos.org/events_activities/virtual_exhibits
This collection of online exhibits introduces users to a variety of science topics, including the history, methods, and fundamental ideas behind the science of astronomy; how ice-core samples taken in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet ... Full description
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir of Thomas Midgley Jr.
http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/tmidgley.pdf
A biographical memoir of Thomas Midgley, Jr. by Charles F. Kettering presented to the National Academy of Sciences at the 1947 Annual Meeting. A bibliography of Midgley's work is also included. Full description
Online Register of Scientific Instruments
http://www.isin.org/
The Online Register provides an efficient, centralized, widely available register of historic scientific instruments and related objects that exist in dispersed collections of all kinds from around the globe. It holds a limited am... Full description
PBS Online NewsHour: 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, 100 Years Later
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/science/1906quake/
In-depth stories about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and how it led to the birth of modern earthquake science, together with instructional materials. Includes a lesson plan on history through first-person accounts; an interact... Full description
Rothschild Petersen Patent Model Museum
http://www.patentmodel.org/default.aspx
The Rothschild Petersen Patent Model Museum is the largest privately-owned collection of U.S. patent models in the world. The museum's web site includes a database of over 700 models that is searchable by item name, patent number,... Full description
Science and Society Picture Library of Great Britain: Science and Technology
http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/subcategories.asp?cat=SCIENCE%20%7C%20TECHNOLOGY
This library features images depicting the origins and development of major scientific and technological advances collected from a variety of sources in Great Britain, including the Science Museum, the National Railway Museum, the... Full description
Scientific American (1846-1869)
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/browse.journals/scia.html
This is a collection of issues of the magazine Scientific American, vols. 2-14 (1846-1859) and new series vols. 1-21 (1859-1869). During that period, Scientific American, the oldest continuously published magazine in the United St... Full description
SparkMuseum: Vintage Radio and Scientific Apparatus
http://www.sparkmuseum.com/RADIOS.HTM
This online museum features images and brief information on hundreds of electrical devices developed from the late 18th century onward, including spark machines, Leyden jars, voltaic piles, early electric motors, electric lighting... Full description
Turing Digital Archive
http://www.turingarchive.org/
This digital archive contains mainly unpublished personal papers and photographs of Alan Turing (1912-54), the British mathematician, logician, and cryptographer who helped pioneer the concept of the digital computer and modern co... Full description
Wilbur and Orville Wright Papers at the Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wrighthtml/wrighthome.html
This collection features thousands of library items and images documenting the lives and work of Wilbur and Orville Wright, in particular their work that led to the world's first powered, controlled, and sustained flight. The coll... Full description
Wright Brothers Negatives
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/wrihtml/wriabt.html
This Library of Congress photo collection contains approximately 300 pictures taken between 1897 and 1928, most of them by Orville and Wilbur Wright themselves. About 200 views, dated between 1900 to 1911, document their experimen... Full description