jtotheizzoe: Painting Macromolecules In this day and age, we take for granted that complex molecular structures are deduced on an almost daily basis. There are entire scientific journals devoted to such structures, and the now-routine techniques used to solve them, with tongue-tying names like x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance. Calculating the pattern of folds in a protein is now a minor blip on the scientific radar, when in years past you could be guaranteed a cover article. Of course, it wasn’t always this way. In 1961, Irving Geis illustrated the first protein structure solved by X-ray crystallography: sperm whale myoglobin. Today we use computers and automated algorithms to translate complex data sets into the ribbons and sheets of protein structures. But Geis painted it by hand, working closely with the scientists who created the data. Check out more of Geis’ work and a history of molecular structures at The Scientist.

jtotheizzoe:

Painting Macromolecules

In this day and age, we take for granted that complex molecular structures are deduced on an almost daily basis. There are entire scientific journals devoted to such structures, and the now-routine techniques used to solve them, with tongue-tying names like x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance. Calculating the pattern of folds in a protein is now a minor blip on the scientific radar, when in years past you could be guaranteed a cover article.

Of course, it wasn’t always this way. In 1961, Irving Geis illustrated the first protein structure solved by X-ray crystallography: sperm whale myoglobin. Today we use computers and automated algorithms to translate complex data sets into the ribbons and sheets of protein structures. But Geis painted it by hand, working closely with the scientists who created the data.

Check out more of Geis’ work and a history of molecular structures at The Scientist.

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