Darwin's wife's diaries go online

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The diaries of the wife of naturalist Charles Darwin have been published online.

Emma Darwin's notebooks cover six decades of the couple's life together and provide an insight into the daily life of the Victorian scientist.

The 60 pocket books were previously known only to a handful of academics familiar with the Darwin archives at Cambridge University.

Appointments, family visits and illnesses are all noted in the books.

Celebrated visitors

The first diary is dated 1824 when the then named Emma Wedgwood was just 16 years old.

She married Charles, her cousin, in 1839 and kept a diary until the last year of her life.

The diaries reveal how the Darwins entertained visiting scientists - with guests sometimes numbering 10 or 15.

BBC science correspondent Christine McGourty says some believe this contradicts the biologist's own assertions about leading a retired life in the country.

The complete works of Charles Darwin, who showed how natural selection could explain evolution, were published online last year.