About the site
It is a pleasure to see this website about Nature's history finally emerge. In the usual rush of daily and weekly events such a project, first conceived a few years back, slips down the 'to do' list all too easily.
But the imminent publication online of all of Nature's content from its first 80 years has provided the necessary stimulus. I hope all visitors to the Nature.com website will enjoy a browse through this rich seam of scientific history.
I must express my appreciation of my colleague Arran Frood, who has dedicated himself to bringing this project to fruition, and whose own introduction to the project appears below.
Philip Campbell,
Editor-in-Chief, Nature
October 2007
The History of the Journal Nature website is intended not only as a useful resource in itself, but also to celebrate Nature's early archive back to the first issue of November 4 1869 being made available online.
It has been nearly forty years since Nature last surveyed its history in any depth. The centenary issue of November 1 1969 contained a series of brilliant essays that in the view of several historians have yet to be bettered. Having researched the history of Nature for most of this year, I can only agree.
In 1969, print was the only medium available. Forty years later, the web provides the means for a much richer exploration. Even so, this website makes no pretence at representing the whole history of Nature. Sadly, many records of the journal's editorial past have not survived the years, but other archive material is held at the British Library, various universities and institutions and the Macmillan office in Basingstoke. We also possess Editors' copies of every issue of the journal, containing records of who wrote each editorial. A comprehensive history exploiting all of this material has yet to be written.
One aspect of this website is a blog, 'the Best of Nature', designed so that, for a limited period, readers can nominate their favourite content, discuss their choices with other users and highlight what we may have missed along the way.
But that is just one thread of what is presented. The additional mix of multimedia will hopefully contain something for anyone interested in science and its history.
There are interactive timelines that chronicle elements of the Nature story, decade by decade. We hope you will also enjoy videos of in-depth interviews with commentators and Nature editors past and present. And newly commissioned essays focus on a particular facet of each editorship: there have been only seven Editors or co-Editors of Nature in its history.
For those most interested in science, commentaries from the book A Century of Nature shed light on seminal discoveries that Nature has been privileged to publish. We are grateful to the University of Chicago Press for the agreement that brings this title online for the first time. Readers who wish to delve further into the details of Nature's past can find out more in the ‘Histories' section, which gathers much, but by no means all, of what has been published hitherto, including the seminal centenary essays.
This project has been made possible with the help and assistance of many, and Alysoun Sanders, Macmillan archivist, deserves particular acknowledgement for her enthusiasm and extensive knowledge. We would also like to thank the University of Exeter Archive Services, Special Collections, for allowing us access to the Lockyer materials and for permission to reproduce images. The University of Sussex and Reading University also granted us full access to their archive collections. We are grateful to the Normal Lockyer Observatory for assistance and for allowing us to use archive images of Nature's founding editor, and to the Royal Society and all photographers and enthusiasts who have allowed us to reproduce copyrighted material for this project.
Arran Frood,
Web Projects Editor, Nature
October 2007
