These pages are now woefully outdated; I haven't updated the links in yonks. Still I resolved not to take the pages down, since there may still be some useful material in here. Just be prepared to be frustrated.

Eighteenth-Century Resources — Science & Mathematics

This page, edited by Jack Lynch of Rutgers — Newark, is part of the larger collection of Eighteenth-Century Resources on the Net.

Science and Mathematics

Resources on the history of science are growing, but few focus specifically on the eighteenth century. Most of the sources below are well organized, though, and will lead you to relevant material quickly.

General Resources

ECHO Science and Technology Virtual Center (GMU): A large archive of Web resources on the history of science, replacing the old Wide Web Virtual Library: History of Science, Technology, and Medicine. Not specific to the eighteenth century, but a good place to start for Web research on the history of science.
Eric's Treasure Trove of Scientific Biography (Virginia): Brief biographical sketches for hundreds of scientists and mathematicians, including some portraits. Requires frames.
Jesuits and the Sciences: 1540-1995 (Loyola Univ. of Chicago): Information on Jesuit contributions to the sciences, including images and some rare E-texts. Arranged chronologically.
Pre-History of Cognitive Science Web (Carl Stahmer, UCSB): A thoroughly annotated bibliography on 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-c. models of human cognition. Only a few figures are represented so far.
Evolution: Theory and History (Rob and David Polly, Berkeley): Extensive site on evolutionary theory, with brief accounts of many 18th-c. figures, including Hooke, Buffon, Linnaeus, Erasmus Darwin, Lamarck, Malthus, and Cuvier.
The Euler Archive (Ed Sandifer, Connecticut State): Information on and selections from texts by Leonhard Euler (1707-1783).
Science in the 19th Century Periodical: "A searchable electronic index to the science content of sixteen nineteenth-century general periodicals." More than 7,500 articles.

Mathematics

History of Mathematics (University of St. Andrews): Extensive general site on the history of maths. Includes brief discussions of hundreds of mathematicians, bibliographies, and timelines.
Mathematicians of the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries (Trinity College Dublin): Short accounts of a few dozen mathematicians, taken from W. W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics (4th Edition, 1908).
History of Mathematics (Clark): Briefly annotated list of other Web resources.
George Berkeley (1685-1753) (David R. Wilkins, Trinity College Dublin): Biography, bibliography, original essays, and links on Berkeley, as part of a history of mathematics archive. Very impressive.

Medicine

Yale Medical Library: Historical Library: Information on the collection, along with some bibliographies of important sources.
History of Medicine Division, NLM: Includes 60,000 images, some from the eighteenth century. Some are freely available; for others, only bad thumbnails are available.
History of Medicine Library (Wellcome Trust): A catalogue of hundreds of repositories of manuscripts on the history of medicine from 1600 to 1945 in the London area.

Scientific Instruments

Museum of Physics Department (Naples): Includes an exhibition on early scientific instruments. In English and Italian.

Individual Scientists

Leonhard Euler

The Euler Archive (Dominic Klyve and Lee Stemkoski, Dartmouth): A very extensive and impressive archive of PDF files of Euler's original publications. Thoroughly scholarly, and not for beginners.

Galileo

The Galileo Project (Rice): Extensive hypertext site on Galileo's life and works, with chronologies, a bibliography, links, and images and descriptions of places and scientific instruments.

Albrecht von Haller

Berner Haller-Projekt: Biographical data on Albrecht von Haller, 1708-77, and information on the project to publish his works. In English and German.

Julien Offray de La Mettrie

Julien Offray de La Mettrie (Wisconsin): Very brief page on La Mettrie, with the text of L'Homme machine (in English) and a brief bibliography.

Lavater

Digital Lavater (Ross Woodrow, Univ. of Newcastle): An impressive digital edition of Lavater's Physiognomy (in English translation), richly illustrated. Very impressive.

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier

Lavoisier's Friends (France): Extensive information on Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, including a images, reviews, and a large bibliography. English and French. Requires frames.

Carolus Linnaeus

The Linnaean Correspondence (Bengt Jonsell, c18): A large scholarly archive of Linnaeus's correspondence, with extensive background information. Texts are in the original languages.
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) (David McNeil): Index of Web resources, including pointers to library catalogues.

Isaac Newton

The Newton Project (Cambridge): An invaluable collection of transcriptions of Newton's theological and alchemical manuscripts. A complete on-line edition of Newton's works is an eventual aim. O si sic omnes!
Sir Isaac Newton (Andrew McNab): "The virtual museum of Sir Isaac Newton and the history of science." Includes a bibliography, chronology, biographical notes, quotations, anecdotes, and links. Unscholarly, but worthy.