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Cambridge University to publish rare science and faith books on internet

05 June 2010 12:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Aynur Valiyeva â€“ APA. Thousands of rare books and manuscripts at Camrbidge University Library â€“ including handwritten notes by Sir Isaac Newton â€“ are to be made available on line thanks to a Â£1.5m donation, APA reports quoting the Telegraph.
The gift from the former businessman Dr Leonard Polonsky will be used to start the Digital Library for the 21st Century create an infrastructure capable of digitising the vast collection housed at the 600-year-old institution.
Digitisation will be completed in stages, with the first collections to be called "The Foundations of Faith" and "The Foundations of Science".
Among the Library’s religious collections are some of the world’s most ancient Qur’ans and an eighth century copy of the Surat al-Anfal, the Qur’an’s eighth chapter.

It is hope that further funding could lead to the digitisation of manuscripts from Darwin and Stephen Hawking, continuing the story of science into the modern age.
Anne Jarvis, the university Librarian, said that the exciting new plans would open up priceless collections to students worldwide.
She said: â€œOur library contains evidence of some of the greatest ideas and discoveries over two millennia. We want to make it accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world with an internet connection and a thirst for knowledge.â€

The library currently houses eight million books and periodicals, one million maps and thousands of manuscripts over 100 miles of shelving, expanding at the rate of two miles per year.