History of Visualization of Biological Macromolecules

On-line Museum

Early Interactive Molecular Graphics Movie Gallery

Thanks to C. D. Barry and Edgar Meyer, The Library of the Max-Planck Institute for the History of Science has now in its collection about 30 reels of 16mm film dating back to the early days of molecular graphics. The work of cataloging and transfering these films to video and/or digital media is currently under way. The description and some sequences of these movies (in QuickTime) will be made available here. The quality of these sequences is of course limited by questions of bandwidth, but will give a good idea of what was possible and what was done as early as the mid-1960s. Only two films ("Proteins" and "Crystal Structure of Insulin Dimer") are currently available.

Film: "Proteins"

Original Format: 16mm B/W

Length: 6'03"

Production: Cyrus Levinthal et al., MIT

Year: ca. 1966

Original 16mm movie courtesy of C. D. Barry

This film was produced with the interactive molecular graphics and modeling system devised by Cyrus Levinthal and his collaborator in the mid-1960s (see description here).

Sequence 1 (8.3 MB, 1'04"). Title sequence and alanine.

Sequence 2 (7.1 MB, 0"58'). Polypeptide chain I: extended form.

Sequence 3 (5.2 MB, 0"50'). Polypeptide chain II: alpha-helix.

Sequence 4 (9.6 MB, 0"51'). Lysozyme.

Sequence 5 (7.7 MB, 37"05'). Myoglobin.

Sequence 6 (9.5 MB, 1"05'). Heme group.

Film: "Crystal Structure of Insulin Dimer"

Original Format: 16mm B/W

Length: 7'13"

Production: Gerald C. Johns (Animation and Direction), Gary W. Parker and David L. Shupe (Technical Support)

Year: 1971

Original 16mm movie courtesy of C. D. Barry

This film was produced at the Computer Systems Laboratory of Washington University (St. Louis), using the Molecular Modelling System (MMS) devised by J. J. Beitch, R. A. Ellis, J. M. Fritch and G. R. Marshall.

Sequence 1 (6.3 MB, 1'04") Alpha carbon backbone with disulfide bonds.

Sequence 2 (7.4 MB, 1'21"). Full backbone with disulfide bonds.

Sequence 3 (10.8 MB, 1'50"). Dimer backbones with histidines, zincs and blinking cystines.

Sequence 4 (6.9 MB, 1'36"). Backbone, both A-chains.

Sequence 5 (6.9 MB, 1'13"). Alpha carbon backbones with dimer invariants.

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