
Blessed Plot: a diagram of the molecular structure of insulin from 1968 - Hooke
http://blogs.mhs.ox.ac.uk/insidemhs/blessed-plot-inside-mhs-blog/
======
theoh
The Science museum has a lot of 3D models from this period and later
crystallographic research. Insulin, haemoglobin, myoglobin, DNA.

[http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/plan_your_visit/...](http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/plan_your_visit/exhibitions/churchills-
scientists/inside-the-exhibition) (scroll down for a model by Hodgkins' group)

[http://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co13671/fores...](http://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co13671/forest-
of-rods-model-of-myoglobin-myoglobin-models-molecular-models)

Also, on the aesthetic side of things, there was a famous "transfer" of
crystallographic atomic patterns into decorative work at the Festival of
Britain (1951): [https://wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/atoms-
patterns](https://wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/atoms-patterns)

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subnaught
A descendent of pluto is still in use:
[http://www.cryst.chem.uu.nl/spek/platon/pl010000.html](http://www.cryst.chem.uu.nl/spek/platon/pl010000.html)

See also: [http://www.chilton-
computing.org.uk/ccd/graphics/p012.htm](http://www.chilton-
computing.org.uk/ccd/graphics/p012.htm)

~~~
gnufx
See also
[http://www.ccp4.ac.uk/dist/html/npo.html](http://www.ccp4.ac.uk/dist/html/npo.html),
which I'm surprised to see is still there, and fittingly also has Phil Evan's
name on it. Note the production of stereo plots which needed practice looking
at in the right way to get the effect.

------
vilhelm_s
The Chemical Heritage Museum in Philadelphia also has some exhibits of
electron cloud models from the same time period, similar to the penicillin
model in this article.

Some photos here: [http://imgur.com/a/xcJxn](http://imgur.com/a/xcJxn)

Their caption says,

> For over a decade X-ray crystallographer Roget Burnett toted around the
> world the bits and pieces of his project of determining the structure of an
> adenovirus coat protein. He crystallized his protein while a postdoc at the
> University of Michigan. In 1973 he carried these tiny crystals in capillary
> tubes to the University of Basel. For the next seven years he and his
> associates made hundreds of X-ray photographs of crystals. These photographs
> were transformed (several steps later) into unwieldy plastic sheets showing
> electron densities at cross-sections of the protein. In 1980 Burnett
> transported these sheets to Columbia University, where his team examined
> them to precisely locate the protein's atoms. In 1984 they turned to early
> computer graphics to model the molecule. Today computers expedite nearly all
> these steps.

I really like the method of visualizing the electron cloud by printing out
many transparent plastic sheets and then stacking them; it's looks very
stylish!

------
gnufx
It's nice to see Eleanor Dodson cropping up here, long a leading light of
[http://www.ccp4.ac.uk](http://www.ccp4.ac.uk), which might be the most
successful UK scientific computing effort.

