One of Charles Darwin’s famous notebooks has now been reported to the police as missing from a library in Cambridge, England. But the alleged theft does not have to be new, because no one has seen the book in almost 20 years.
One of the most important documents in the history of science has disappeared. It is about Charles Darwin’s notebook in which he wrote down the first thoughts about the natural selection for the origin of the species.
– It was first reported as missing by the library in November. But after several months of police investigation, you still do not know where it is, says Petter Hellström who is a historian of science at Uppsala University
– What do you think may have happened?
– Apparently it is the case that no one seems to have seen this notebook in almost 20 years in fact, says Petter Hellström
The historian of science Petter Hellström and other researchers who have worked with Charles Darwin’s notebooks have instead looked at photographed images digitally and not picked them up at the library in Cambridge, England.
It was long thought that it had been placed in the wrong place somewhere among the 10 million maps and manuscripts in the library, but in November last year it was reported to the police as stolen.
Just in the lost book are the first drawn pictures of how Charles Darwin envisioned evolution, what shows how traits can change between different generations.
– This notebook contains one of the most famous pictures in the history of science, namely three tree sketches where Charles Darwin tried to formulate his theory of evolution through natural selection. These images have become iconic. They are found on mugs and t-shirts and tattooed bodies as a symbol of evolution and of science, but now the original has disappeared, says the historian of science Petter Hellström.
He is one of the participants this spring new book circle based on “The gene – a highly private story”. Hear him in conversation with genetic counselor Charlotta Ingvoldstad-Malmgren in Vetenskapsradion Hälsa 12.09 or already now in SR play.