The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in the Digital Commons

England's Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific publisher of the world's oldest peer-review journal, has decided to make its entire archive, going all the way back to the first issue published in 1665, freely available to the public. The archive includes Ben Franklin's reports on his original kite-based experiments on electricity, Sir Isaac Newton's first published scientific paper, and an early paper on geology by Charles Darwin. It is a treasure trove for historians of science and anyone interested in the history of scientific publishing. The announcement is here; and a search page is here.