In the library of the University of Cambridge, the loss of the manuscripts of the English naturalist Charles Darwin was noticed 20 years later. The Guardian newspaper writes about it.
It is believed that two notebooks, as well as Darwin's sketch of The Tree of Life (dated 1837) were stolen. This could have happened 20 years ago – it was then that notebooks were last seen. The loss was discovered only this fall: on October 20, the library staff went to the police. Law enforcement agencies have already notified Interpol about this.
The newspaper notes that the manuscripts were last seen in November 2000. Not finding the books in the same location in January 2001, staff assumed they were simply removed to a different section of the archive.
University librarian Dr. Jessica Gardner noted that her predecessors searched the library for the records, sincerely believing they were lost somewhere. “Now the new team analyzed what happened and came to the conclusion that those actions were not enough,” she said.
Both manuscripts have been digitized and are available on the Internet. Their exact cost is unknown, but may run into millions of pounds.
On March 19, scientists at the University of Cambridge in the UK proved the hypothesis of Charles Darwin, according to which animal species with a large internal diversity produce more subspecies. The results show that the correlation between species diversity and subspecies diversity is strongest in non-terrestrial mammals, that is, marine mammals or those who spend a lot of time in the air.
