Long Keeping
The world's great minds, from their own perspective.
The primary works of eight people who gave the most to human knowledge: their own books, papers, lectures, letters and patents, not summaries of them. Every original is kept exactly as it was found, with a record of where it came from and on what terms.
597 works903 original files 535.1 MB kept byte for byte 366 public domain · 93 to check · 138 likely in copyright
Last check passed 2 October 2026 · all 903 originals match the fingerprints taken when they were collected · checked by hand once a year
Eight lives, in order of birth
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1643–1727
Mathematics, physics and astronomy Isaac Newton
Gave us the laws of motion, universal gravitation, calculus and a new science of light.
160 works 247 files 12 still sought -
1791–1867
Chemistry, electricity and magnetism Michael Faraday
Discovered electromagnetic induction, the basis of generators and motors, and loved explaining science to the public.
60 works 76 files 6 still sought -
1809–1882
Natural history and biology Charles Darwin
Showed that living things evolve by natural selection, changing how we understand all life.
25 works 40 files 4 still sought -
1820–1910
Nursing, public health and statistics Florence Nightingale
Made nursing a trained profession and used statistics to prove that clean hospitals save lives.
36 works 88 files 6 still sought -
1822–1895
Chemistry and microbiology Louis Pasteur
Proved that germs cause fermentation and disease, and made vaccines and pasteurisation possible.
44 works 63 files 8 still sought -
1856–1943
Electrical engineering and invention Nikola Tesla
Invented the alternating-current motor and polyphase power system that still runs the electric grid.
182 works 208 files 11 still sought -
1867–1934
Physics and chemistry (radioactivity) Marie Skłodowska Curie
Discovered polonium and radium, named radioactivity, and won Nobel Prizes in two sciences.
34 works 111 files 7 still sought -
1879–1955
Theoretical physics Albert Einstein
Changed how we understand space, time, light and gravity through relativity and the light quantum.
56 works 70 files 11 still sought