Science journal Nature has completed the digitisation of its entire archive by making available material from 1869's volume 1, issue 1 to 1949 as the final step in its five-year online deployment plan.

According to the press release, goodies now available from the publication's first 80 years - encompassing more than 4,000 issues and 180,000 articles - include: first observation of X-rays (Wilhelm Röntgen, 1896); the discovery of the electron ( J.J. Thomson, 1897); the first fossil evidence that humans originated in Africa (Raymond Dart, 1925); and the discovery of the neutron (James Chadwick, 1932).

To celebrate the topping out of the archive, Nature is offering web feature The History of the Journal Nature, featuring "timelines, video interviews, and profiles of editors".

For a limited period, it's also handing out free selected historical highlights, although you'll normally have to cough up for full-fat material. For example, a one-off purchase of 1953's Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid by Watson and Crick costs $30. ®

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